This grant provides funding for research aimed at enhancing the functionality of integrated bioanalytical microsystems through the intimate assembly of disparate classes of materials, each chosen to provide a specific function. Each materials subassembly will be prepared on a separate substrate by thin-film deposition processes under optimal conditions for that particular material. Thin-film subassemblies, including gallium nitride heterostructures for blue and ultraviolet light emission, piezoelectric multilayers for mechanical actuation, and polymers for optical components and bio-compatible coatings, will then be combined by bonding and layer-transfer to micromachined glass, polymer and silicon substrates. Film transfer methods utilizing spatially selective modification of materials by pulsed laser and ion irradiation will be employed and modeled with the goal of minimizing thermal and mechanical degradation of the least robust of the materials to be integrated (typically polymers). The materials integration and microtabrication methods developed during the course of this project will be targeted toward the demonstration of fully integrated optical microfluidic bioanalyticai devices based on fluorescence detection. These devices combine the fluorescence excitation source, the aperture actuator mechanism, the microfluidic channel, the optical filter, and the fluorescence detector, all within a volume of approximately a cubic mill (meter).
If successful, this project will develop the materials integration processes necessary to fabricate complex, low-cost and portable bioassay microsystems utilizing multicolor arrays of fluorescence detection devices integrated directly with microchannel substrates. The direct integration of the optical excitation and detection system eliminates the need for bulky lasers, optical filters, and photodetectors. Furthermore, the potential for integrating dense linear arrays of these devices along microchannels could enable rapid, single-molecule analysis for applications in genetics and pathogen detection.
