Facility fro rapid prototyping of micro-fluidic devices

这项提案描述了一种设备，使科学家和工程师能够制造具有微米级表面特征和通道的小型设备。这些设备包括化学采样芯片和微电子冷却设备。考虑到大多数现代电子和化学采样分析设备的空间限制，基于微流控的技术正变得越来越普遍。微流控设备允许高效率和小样本量的复杂样品的现场分离和分析。这些设备在环境监测、生物医学筛选或任何需要快速检测特定分析物或类别分析物的情况下都有应用。用于微芯片热控制的原位冷却设备也利用微流体流网络来散热。如果一个电子设备要发挥预期的作用，适当的温度控制是必不可少的。在没有器件级冷却的情况下，芯片运行得更热，更容易出现温度引起的错误。本提案中描述的无掩膜图案化系统将允许在各种材料(从塑料到金属)以及广泛的通道尺寸和几何形状下创建微流控器件。这允许仔细研究控制微流控器件性能的各种物理参数，从而极大地改进设计。所要求的设备是一种新的系统，它消除了生产原型时传统上更昂贵和更耗时的两步工艺的需要。这项研究将使生物技术、能源和可持续系统以及微电子等许多行业受益，从而产生更高效和更具成本效益的解决方案。

This proposal describes equipment which enables scientists and engineers to fabricate small scale devices which have surface features and channels on the micro-meter scale. These devices include chemical sampling chips and micro-electronics cooling devices. Given the space limitations of most modern electronics and chemical sampling and analysis equipment, micro-fluidic based technologies are becoming more prevalent.  Micro-fluidic devices allow for on site separation and analysis of complex samples with high efficiency and small sample size.  These devices have applications in environmental monitoring, biomedical screening, or any situation where rapid detection of a particular analyte or class of analytes is required. In situ cooling devices for thermal control of micro-chips also utilize micro-fluidic flow networks for heat removal. Proper thermal control is essential if an electronic device is to function as intended. In the absence of device level cooling, chips run hotter, and are more prone to temperature induced errors.The Maskless Patterning System described in this proposal will allow for the creation of micro-fluidic devices in a wide range of materials (from plastics to metals) and with a wide range of channel sizes and geometries.  This allows for careful study of the various physical parameters which control micro-fluidic device performance, thus leading to great improvements in design. The requested equipment is a new system, which eliminates the need for a two step process, which is traditionally more expensive and time consuming when producing prototypes.This research will benefit many industries such as biotechnology, energy and sustainable systems, and micro-electronics, leading to more efficient and cost effective solutions.