JP2008032414A - Microchip - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve a problem wherein an inexpensive microchip is difficult to be manufactured, because it is necessary to use a very expensive device such as a spattering device and a reactive ion etching device, in a conventional microchip. <P>SOLUTION: The microchip of the present invention has structure layered with an upper substrate provided with a sample injection hole and a sample discharge hole, and an under substrate provided with a water repellant film and opened at least in a flow channel portion, and for fixing the upper substrate and under substrate layered by a substrate holding material, and the microchip with sufficient practical usability is obtained by the very simple structure, without using the expensive device or the like. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a microchip.

  In recent years, micro-channels such as micro-channels, reaction vessels, and ports are formed in the substrate, as is known by the names such as Micro-scale Total Analysis Systems (μTAS) or Love-on-chip (Lab-on-chip). A microdevice configured to perform various operations such as chemical reaction, synthesis, purification, extraction, generation and analysis of a substance within a microstructure has been proposed and partially put into practical use. A structure produced for such a purpose and having a microstructure such as a microchannel, a port, and a reaction vessel in a substrate is collectively referred to as a “microchip” or a “microfluidic device”. Microchips can be used in a wide range of applications such as chemical industry and environmental measurement as well as chemical, biochemical, pharmaceutical, medical, and veterinary fields such as gene analysis, clinical diagnosis, and drug screening. Compared to devices of the same size as common sizes, microchips are (1) significantly less sample and reagent usage, (2) shorter analysis times, (3) higher sensitivity, (4) portable to the spot And (5) can be disposable.

  The structure of a conventional microchip will be described with reference to FIG. The conventional microchip communicates with the fine flow path 11 and the fine flow path 11 and has a PDMS substrate 10a made of polydimethylsiloxane in which a port 12 opened to the atmosphere is formed, and a surface of the PDMS substrate 10a on which the fine flow path 11 is formed. In the microchip including the facing substrate 13 bonded to the surface, a silicon oxide 14 is formed on the bonding surface of the facing substrate 13, and the facing substrate 13 is bonded to the PDMS substrate 10 through the silicon oxide 14. .

  The PDMS substrate 10a is formed by molding PDMS resin using a mold to form the fine flow path 11 and the port 12, and the facing substrate 13 is formed by forming a silicon oxide 14 on a polycarbonate plate by a sputtering method.

After the PDMS substrate 10a and the facing substrate 13 are subjected to surface modification treatment of each bonded surface by oxygen plasma in the reactive ion etching apparatus, the PDMS substrate 10a and the facing substrate 13 are taken out from the reactive ion etching apparatus, and the PDMS A microchip is completed by bonding the surface of the substrate 10a where the fine flow path is formed and the surface of the silicon oxide film 14 of the facing substrate 13 together.
Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2005-257283 (FIG. 1)

  The microchip described above has the following problems.

  In the conventional microchip, it was necessary to use a very expensive apparatus such as a sputtering apparatus or a reactive ion etching apparatus, and it was difficult to produce an inexpensive microchip.

  Further, in the conventional microchip, the PDMS substrate and the facing substrate are permanently bonded, so it is very difficult to clean and reuse the flow path once the sample has flowed. In other words, it had to be used on the premise of disposable.

An object of the present invention is to provide a microchip having a very simple structure, low cost and good productivity.

  In order to achieve the above object, the microchip in the present invention adopts the following configuration.

  In the microchip of the present invention, an upper substrate provided with a sample injection hole and a sample discharge hole and a lower substrate provided with a water-repellent film having at least a channel portion opened are overlapped with each other by a substrate holding material. It is characterized in that the upper substrate and the lower substrate are fixed.

  The microchip of the present invention includes an upper substrate in which a sample injection hole, a sample discharge hole, and an upper substrate provided with a water-repellent film having at least a flow path portion are overlapped with a lower substrate, and are overlapped with a substrate holding material. The lower substrate is fixed.

  The microchip of the present invention has a sample injection hole and a sample discharge hole, an upper substrate provided with a water-repellent film having at least a flow passage portion, and a lower substrate provided with a water-repellent film having at least a flow passage portion opened. And an upper substrate and a lower substrate which are overlapped by a substrate holding material are fixed.

  In the microchip of the present invention, it is preferable that a substrate holding material for fixing the upper substrate and the lower substrate is disposed between the upper substrate and the lower substrate.

  The microchip of the present invention includes an upper substrate on which a sample injection hole and a sample discharge hole are provided and an upper substrate on which a water repellent film is provided in addition to a portion serving as a flow path, The lower substrate is fixed.

  In the case of such a structure, the upper substrate and the lower substrate are not in a completely intimate state, but the flow path of the liquid injected from the sample injection hole can be controlled by the pattern of the water repellent film, Even if the upper substrate and the lower substrate are not in close contact with each other, it is possible to obtain the same effect as that in which holes for allowing the liquid to flow are physically formed.

  This makes it possible to obtain a microchip having a very simple structure and sufficient practicality without using an expensive device or the like.

Hereinafter, a microchip according to an optimal embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
(First embodiment)
FIG. 1 shows a cross-sectional view of a microchip in a first embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the upper substrate 1 provided with the sample injection hole 4 and the sample discharge hole 5 and the lower substrate 2 provided with the water repellent film 3 in addition to the portion serving as the flow path 10 are overlapped to form a substrate holding material 6. Thus, the upper substrate 1 and the lower substrate 2 that are overlapped with each other are fixed.

  In the case of such a structure, the upper substrate 1 and the lower substrate 2 are not completely in close contact with each other, but the flow path of the liquid injected from the sample injection hole 4 can be controlled by the pattern of the water repellent film 3. Even if the upper substrate 1 and the lower substrate 2 are not in close contact with each other, it is possible to obtain the same effect as that in which the holes for allowing the liquid to flow are physically formed.

  This makes it possible to obtain a microchip having a very simple structure and sufficient practicality without using an expensive device or the like.

  Next, a microchip manufacturing method according to the first embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. First, as shown in FIG. 2, the sample injection hole 4 and the sample discharge hole 5 are formed by cutting in an acrylic plate having a thickness of about 1 mm, and the upper substrate 1 is created.

  In this embodiment, an acrylic plate is used as the upper substrate 1, but it is not particularly limited, and an appropriate one is used in consideration of workability, cost, and the like.

  FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the lower substrate 2 on which the water repellent film 3 is formed. A water-repellent film 3 is formed on one surface of the lower substrate 2 except for a portion serving as a liquid flow path. The water-repellent film 3 is formed by spraying a mixture of water-repellent particles and an adhesive binder, and using a metal mask at that time, it is formed into an arbitrary pattern.

  The pattern shape of the water-repellent film 3 only needs to be open at least in the flow path portion, and may be formed in an appropriate shape depending on the purpose and application.

  In the present embodiment, an acrylic plate is used as the material of the lower substrate 2, but the material is not particularly limited, and an appropriate material is used in consideration of workability and cost.

  The upper substrate 1 and the surface of the lower substrate 2 on which the water repellent film 3 is formed are overlapped, and the upper substrate 1 and the lower substrate 2 are fixed by the substrate holding material 6 as shown in FIG. At this time, if the outer shape of the upper substrate 1 and the lower substrate 2 are matched, the sample injection hole 4 and the sample discharge hole 5 and the portion of the lower substrate 2 where the water-repellent film 3 is not formed can be aligned. Can be done easily.

  In this embodiment, the upper substrate 1 and the lower substrate 2 are fixed using an adhesive tape as the substrate holding material 6. The microchip shown in FIG. 1 is completed by the above method.

(Second embodiment)
Next, the structure of the second embodiment will be described. FIG. 5 shows a cross-sectional view of the microchip in the second embodiment. As shown in FIG. 5, the lower substrate 2 provided with the water-repellent film 3 in addition to the upper substrate 1 provided with the sample injection hole 4 and the sample discharge hole 5, the portion serving as the flow path, and the portion where the substrate holding material 6 is disposed; And the upper substrate 1 and the lower substrate 2 are fixed by disposing the substrate holding material 6 between the upper substrate 1 and the lower substrate 2.

  With this structure, it is possible to obtain a microchip that can obtain the same effects as those of the first embodiment.

  Next, a microchip manufacturing method according to the second embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 and 5 to 7. First, similarly to the first embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, the sample injection hole 4 and the sample discharge hole 5 are formed by cutting in an acrylic plate having a thickness of about 1 mm, and the upper substrate 1 is created.

  In this embodiment, an acrylic plate is used as the upper substrate 1, but it is not particularly limited, and an appropriate one is used in consideration of workability, cost, and the like.

  FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing the lower substrate 2 on which the water repellent film 3 is formed. The water-repellent film 3 is formed on one surface of the lower substrate 2 except for a portion serving as a liquid flow path and a portion where the substrate holding material 6 is disposed. As in the first embodiment, the water repellent film 3 is formed by spraying a mixture of water repellent particles and an adhesive binder and using a metal mask to form an arbitrary pattern.

  In the present embodiment, an acrylic plate is used as the material of the lower substrate 2, but the material is not particularly limited, and an appropriate material is used in consideration of workability and cost.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 7, the substrate holding material 6 is disposed on the lower substrate 2. The substrate holding material 6 used at this time uses a liquid adhesive or a film-like adhesive material, but there is no particular limitation.

  In this embodiment, after the upper substrate 1 and the lower substrate 2 are overlapped and fixed by the substrate holding material 6, the soft room temperature curing type silicone is cured after curing so as not to generate a stress that distorts the upper substrate 1 and the lower substrate 2. A series adhesive was used.

  As for the position where the substrate holding material 6 is arranged, it is necessary to arrange the substrate holding material 6 along the outer peripheral portion of the lower substrate 2 as shown in FIG. 7 or to fix the upper substrate 1 and the lower substrate 2 as shown in FIG. A method of arranging only in such a part can be considered, but it is not particularly limited.

  After the substrate holding material 6 is arranged on the lower substrate 2 on which the water repellent film 3 is formed, the upper substrate 1 and the lower substrate are overlapped with the upper substrate 1 and the silicone adhesive used as the substrate holding material 6 is cured. 2 is fixed, and the microchip in the second embodiment as shown in FIG. 5 can be obtained.

  At this time, if the outer shape of the upper substrate 1 and the lower substrate 2 are matched, the sample injection hole 4 and the sample discharge hole 5 and the portion of the lower substrate 2 where the water-repellent film 3 is not formed can be aligned. Can be done easily.

  The positions where the sample injection hole 4 and the sample discharge hole 5 are formed are not necessarily provided on the upper substrate 1 side. Even if the sample injection hole 4 and the sample discharge hole 5 are provided on the lower substrate 2, they are the same as the microchips described in the first and second embodiments. An effect is obtained.

  Further, the position where the water repellent film 3 is formed is not necessarily provided on the lower substrate 2 side, and there is no problem even if it is provided on the upper substrate 1 side, and it may be provided on both the upper substrate 1 and the lower substrate 2. The same effect as the microchip described in the first and second embodiments can be obtained.

It is sectional drawing which shows the microchip in 1st embodiment of this invention. It is a perspective view which shows the manufacturing process of the microchip in 1st embodiment of this invention. It is a perspective view which shows the manufacturing process of the microchip in 1st embodiment of this invention. It is a perspective view which shows the manufacturing process of the microchip in 1st embodiment of this invention. It is sectional drawing which shows the microchip in 2nd embodiment of this invention. It is a perspective view which shows the manufacturing process of the microchip in 2nd embodiment of this invention. It is a perspective view which shows the manufacturing process of the microchip in 2nd embodiment of this invention. It is a perspective view which shows the manufacturing process of the microchip in 2nd embodiment of this invention. It is sectional drawing which shows the microchip in a prior art example.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Upper substrate 2 Lower substrate 3 Water repellent film 4 Sample injection hole 5 Sample discharge hole 6 Substrate holding material 10 Channel 10a PDMS substrate 11 Fine channel 12 Port 13 Face-to-face substrate 14 Silicon oxide

Claims (3)

An upper substrate having a sample injection hole and a sample discharge hole and a lower substrate having a water repellent film having at least a flow path portion are overlapped, and the upper substrate and the lower substrate are fixed by a substrate holding material. Microchip.   The microchip according to claim 1, wherein the substrate holding material is disposed between the upper substrate and the lower substrate. The microchip according to claim 1, wherein the upper substrate has a water-repellent film having at least a channel portion opened.

Images