An instrument to control parallel plate separation for nanoscale flow control

Abstract

The handling of extremely small samples of gases and liquids has long been a subject of research among biologists, chemists, and engineers. A few scientific instruments, notably the surface force apparatus, have been used extensively to investigate very short-range molecular phenomena. This article describes the design, fabrication, and characterization of an easily manufactured, gas and liquid flow control device called the Nanogate. The Nanogate controls liquid flows under very high planar confinement, wherein the liquid film is, in one dimension, on the scale of nanometers, but is on the scale of hundreds of microns in its other dimensions. The liquid film is confined between a silica (Pyrex) surface with a typical roughness of Ra≈6 nm and a gold-covered silicon surface with a typical roughness of Ra≈2 nm. During the manufacturing process, the Pyrex flows and conforms to the gold-covered silicon surface, improving the mating properties of the two surfaces. The fluid film thickness can be controlled within 2 Å, from sub-10 nm up to 1 μm. Control of helium gas flow rates in the 10−9 atm cm3/s range, and sub-nl/s flow rates of water and methanol have been predicted and experimentally verified.