The effect of photomask resolution on separation efficiency on microfabricated devices.

Separation quality on glass microfluidic devices fabricated from photomasks of different optical resolutions was compared by measuring the dispersion (apparent diffusion) coefficients of a set of standard compounds separated on these devices. Currently, the channel manifolds of most microfluidic devices are patterned using chrome photomasks. A much cheaper, more robust alternative to chrome photomasks are laser photoplotted masks.

Microchip separations in reduced-gravity and hypergravity environments.

Microfabricated fluidics technology, e.g., lab-on-a-chip devices, offers many attractive features for performing chemistry and biochemistry on space-based platforms.