Silicon based cell sorting device: Fabrication, characterization and applications

Abstract

Abstract Cell sorting is an important diagnostic tool used in various aspect of medical prognosis. Numerous cell sorting techniques are currently available on market but they are quite bulky, expensive and at the same time requires very trained operators. In this paper we report on wafer level fabrication technique that will allows for a small form factor device targeting cell sorting. We give detailed overview for the fabrication of our miniaturized cell sorter that is formed with a CMOS compatible process. It used standard fabrication technique in combination with photo-patternable polymer, that has excellent properties for microfluidics applications. The ability to process on wafer level distinguish this from other processes, whose yields are limited to few test samples. The device fabrication includes: processing of micro-heaters, definition of polymer microfluidic channels and collective die-to-wafer bonding of glass substrate onto the polymer channels. We report on the initial characterization of the cell sorting targeting sorting rate and sorting yield. We have achieved sorting rate of 5,000 cells/s and yield of 70% is obtained in initial investigations.