This paper presents a fully automated low temperature co-fired ceramic (LTCC) based microfluidic system with an integrated electrochemical biosensing platform for the detection of cortisol. This paper presents the design, fabrication, integration and testing of the integrated 3D microfluidic system. The electrochemical immunosensor consists of microfabricated interdigitated Au electrodes, onto which cortisol antibodies are immobilized using a self-assembled monolayer (SAM) matrix of dithiobis(succinimidyl propionate) (DTSP). Finite element based simulation was used to optimize the fluid flow dynamics and washing efficiency required for immunosensing in the LTCC microfluidic assay chamber. Cortisol was used as a model analyte to demonstrate electrochemical immunosensing in a fully automated microfluidic system. Cortisol was detected in a linear range of 10 pM–100 nM at a sensitivity of 0.207 μA/M using cyclic voltammetry (CV). This system establishes the basis for the development of a POC cortisol sensor.

An LTCC-based microfluidic system for label-free, electrochemical detection of cortisol

Coating and lamination are two functional processes which are used make a proper finishing to the textile material. The coating formulation with different textile grade polymer like PVC, PU, acrylic, PTFE are hugely used to make a textile product with multipurpose way like- waterproof protective clothing, tarpaulin, protective clothing, electrical insu- lation etc. on the other hand lamination process is used to prepare some important textile products with daily uses in our practical life like- blackout curtains and blinds, and c. In this current work is related to details of lamination theory, various processes, formulations, application, recent developments of the coating and lamination in the textile field.

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A Review on Coating & Lamination in Textiles: Processes and Applications

Low temperature co-fired ceramic (LTCC) based microfluidic devices are being developed for point-of-care biomedical and environmental sensing to enable personalized health care. This article reviews the prospects of LTCC technology for microfluidic device development and its advantages and limitations in processing capabilities compared to silicon, glass and polymer processing. The current state of the art in LTCC-based processing techniques for fabrication of microfluidic components such as microchannels, chambers, microelectrodes and valves is presented. LTCC-based biosensing applications are discussed under the classification of (a) microreactors, (b) whole cell-based and (c) protein biosensors. Biocompatibility of LTCC pertaining to the development of biosensors and whole cell sensors is also discussed. Other significant applications of LTCC microfluidic systems for detection of environmental contaminants and toxins are also presented. Technological constraints and advantages of LTCC-based microfluidic system are elucidated in the conclusion. The LTCC-based microfluidic devices provide a viable platform for the development of point-of-care diagnostic systems for biosensing and environmental sensing applications.

Prospects of low temperature co-fired ceramic (LTCC) based microfluidic systems for point-of-care biosensing and environmental sensing

In this paper, a novel hollow substrate integrated waveguide (HSIW) is presented for realizing low-loss millimeter-wave (mm-wave) transmission lines embedded in multi-chip modules. A new analysis method for the HSIW is proposed by treating it as a combination of a two-dielectric loaded rectangular waveguide (RWG) and standard substrate integrated waveguide, where an effective dielectric constant, e
 e
, is introduced. An HSIW prototype in the Ka-band is fabricated using a progressive-lamination low-temperature co-fired ceramic technique. The measured results agree well with theoretical calculations and simulations. An average of 0.009-dB/mm loss is achieved in Ka-band, which is comparable to an air-filled RWG. This shows that the technique has great potential for further development to realize highly integrated mm-wave modules.

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Analysis and design of a novel low-loss hollow substrate integrated waveguide

In biomedical applications, micro-channels are one of the important features and are often fabricated by laser ablation process. However, laser-processed micro-channels exhibit crucial issues of heat-affected zone (HAZ), dimensional errors, and poor surface quality. This paper investigates the influence of key laser process parameters on the dimensional accuracy and the surface quality of the micro-channels fabricated on zirconia dental material. A full factorial based on design of experiment (DOE) methodology was adopted for carrying out experiments in a pulsed Nd:YAG laser micro-milling. The process parameters considered during machining were laser scanning speed, pulse frequency, and pulse intensity with four levels for each parameters resulting into 64 individual experiments. Channel dimensional accuracy (depth error, top width error and taper angle), surface roughness (Ra), and HAZ were considered as the performance criteria for the present study. The experimental results show that the scanning speed and the pulse intensity and their interaction have the most influential effects on the depth error and HAZ. Moreover, it was found that the pulse intensity controls Ra, and the top width error is mainly affected by the scanning speed. The pulse frequency has the main effect on the channel taper angle, while its effects on other responses are negligible. The multi-objective genetic algorithm (MOGA-II) was employed to determine the optimal parametric conditions for minimizing the ablated depth errors and HAZ while putting the constraints on the minimum acceptable levels of the surface roughness, top width error, and taper angle. The optimized solutions were obtained at the moderate levels of scanning speed and pulse intensities and low levels of pulse frequencies.

Experimental investigation and multi-objective optimization of Nd:YAG laser micro-channeling process of zirconia dental ceramic

This paper describes the application of laser micromachining techniques for the fabrication of microfluidic channels in low temperature co-fired ceramic, LTCC, technology. It is shown that embedded cavities can be successfully realised by employing a recently proposed progressive lamination process with no additional fugitive material. Various microfluidic structures have been fabricated and X-ray imaging has been used to assess the quality of the embedded channels after firing. The problem of achieving accurate alignment between LTCC layers is addressed such that deeper channels, spanning more than one layer, can be fabricated using a pre-lamination technique. A number of possible applications for the presented microfluidic structures are discussed and an H-filter particle separator in LTCC is demonstrated.

Andrew Laister

Papers

Fabrication of embedded microfluidic channels in low temperature co-fired ceramic technology using laser machining and progressive lamination