SBIR Phase II: Microfabricated Silicon Devices for Low Cost Microarray

这个小型企业创新研究(SBIR)二期项目计划开发一种新的、商业上可行的微机械硅技术平台，用于打印DNA微阵列，在成本和质量方面比目前的钢钉技术具有显著优势。第一阶段的工作非常清楚地表明，硅针可靠地吸收DNA打印溶液和沉积的斑点，其尺寸变化好于商业钢制打印针。第二阶段的工作将集中于开发一种新的基于湿法和干法蚀刻相结合的微加工协议，该协议将允许在所有三个维度上雕刻打印尖端。反过来，这将允许尖端的大小、形状和流体输送特性被微调。打印针尖尺寸(范围：125微米x 125微米到25微米x 25微米)和吸收体积(范围：0到100nL)将允许针脚精确地吸收和提供所需的任何体积或斑点大小/形状。再加上在新设计的全硅支架中更密集地封装管脚，这些特性将使DNA微阵列能够以前所未有的成本、速度和质量制造出来。该项目的商业应用是在DNA微阵列领域。由于目前用于印刷DNA微阵列的手工加工钢针的缺点(例如极高的制造成本和低的成品率，极差的针间均匀性，沉积的斑点尺寸范围有限，浪费宝贵的DNA摄取和传递死体积，以及由于针尖的快速磨损而沉积随时间变化)，迫切需要改进的印刷技术。该项目将开发的新的微机械硅印刷产品将在很大程度上消除这些缺点，因此将凭借其更低的成本、更高的精度和速度而作为现有产品的替代品进入市场。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project proposes to develop a new, commercially viable micromachined silicon technology platform for the printing of DNA microarrays that offer significant advantages over current steel pin technology in cost and in quality. The Phase I effort demonstrated very clearly that a silicon pin reliably imbibed DNA printing solution and deposited spots with a size variance better than that of commercial steel printing pins. Phase II work will focus on the development of a new micromachining protocol based on a combination of wet and dry etching that will allow sculpting of the print tip in all three dimensions. This, in turn, will permit the size, shape and fluid delivery characteristics of the tip to be finely tuned. Printing tip sizes (range : 125 microns x 125 microns to 25 microns x 25 microns) and uptake volumes (range : 0 to 100nL) will allow the pins to precisely take up and deliver any volume or spot size/shape desired. Combined with a much denser packing of pins into a newly designed, all-silicon holder, these attributes will allow DNA microarrays to be fabricated at a cost, speed and quality previously unobtainable.The commercial application of this project is in the area of DNA microarrays. Due to the weaknesses in the current manually machined steel pins used for printing DNA microarrays (such as extremely high manufacturing costs and low yield, poor pin-to- pin uniformity, the limited range of spot sizes deposited, waste of valuable DNA in uptake and delivery dead volumes, and deposit variability with time due to rapid tip wear), there is an urgent need for an improved printing technology. The new micromachined silicon printing product to be developed in this project will largely eliminate these drawbacks, and therefore will be well positioned for market entry as a replacement for existing products by virtue of its lower cost, superior accuracy and speed.