Fabrication and Characterisation of a Microfluidic Device for Bead-array Analysis by the LIBWE Method

We have developed a novel design for a microfluidic device incorporating a two-dimensional microbead array by using silica glass plates structured by the laser-micromachining method, Laser-Induced Backside Wet Etching (LIBWE). Surface functionalized borosilicate glass and polymer microbeads 10 m in diameter, which act as detectors, were fixed in etched microstructures and sealed with a polydimethylsiloxane plate to form a microfluidic system. The beads are regularly arranged in a two-dimensional manner without being in contact with any other. Analytes are supplied as a solution flowing in microchannels. The pressure-driven flow in the microchannels was investigated. The successful capture of fluorescein isothiocyanate by amino groups as well as that of biotin by avidin on the beads' surface was confirmed by fluorescence microscopy.