A study for the realization of mobile micro-TAS equipped with a meta-material millimeter-wave antenna

超材料指的是一种材料，在这种材料中，不同的电气或机械性能分布在大块中，从而可以在不依赖于组装过程的情况下表达各种特性。在本项目中，将对超材料在移动微全分析系统（μ-TAS）中的应用进行基础研究，该系统将用于原位化学或生化分析。我们致力于开发1)基于相同材料和原理的μ-TAS所需的组件，如泵，滤波器，反应器，分离器，传感器，2)利用60ghz波段毫米波用于供电和通信的技术。后者利用分布式纳米级介电材料，基于类似光子带隙器件的原理，实现全向毫米波天线。此外，作为微通道内的液体处理技术，我们开发了一种液滴操作方法，该方法利用嵌入电极阵列产生的表面场效应在微通道内驱动。利用表面修饰的平行条形电极系统，我们发现液滴可以自我驱动，并确定其机理是液滴一侧的湿层屏蔽静电场的作用。通过这个项目，我们建立了实现便携式μ-TAS的基本技术。

Metamaterial refers to a material in which different electrical or mechanical properties are distributed within the bulk so that various characteristics can be expressed without relying on assembling processes. In this project, basic studies are carried out towards the utilization of the metamaterial for mobile micro Total Analysis System (μ-TAS) which is to be used for in situ chemical or biochemical assays. We have focused on the development of 1)the components necessary for μ-TAS, such as pumps, filters, reactors, separators, sensors, based on the same material and principle, 2)the technology to utilize 60GHz-band millimeter waves for the power supply and communication. In the latter, distributed nanometer-scale dielectric materials are utilized, based on the principle similar to the photonic band-gap devices, to enable omnidirectional millimeter-wave antenna. In addition, as a liquid handling technique within the micro-channels, we have developed a liquid droplet manipulation methods which is actuated within the microchannel using surface-field effects created by an embedded electrode array. By using surface-modified parallel strip electrode system, we have discovered that a liquid droplet can be actuated in a self-propelling manner, and identified its mechanism as the effect of moisture layer which shields the electrostatic field on one side of the droplet. As a result of this project, we have established basic technologies for the realization of portable μ-TAS.