SU-8 has become the favourite photoresist for high-aspect-ratio (HAR) and three-dimensional (3D) lithographic patterning due to its excellent coating, planarization and processing properties as well as its mechanical and chemical stability. However, as feature sizes get smaller and pattern complexity increases, particular difficulties and a number of material-related issues arise and need to be carefully considered. This review presents a detailed description of these effects and describes reported strategies and achieved SU-8 HAR and 3D structures up to August 2006.

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0960-1317/17/6/R01/pdf

SU-8: a photoresist for high-aspect-ratio and 3D submicron lithography

Rapid pathogen sensing remains a pressing issue today since conventional identification methodsare tedious, cost intensive and time consuming, typically requiring from 48 to 72 h. In turn, chip based technologies, such as microarrays and microfluidic biochips, offer real alternatives capable of filling this technological gap. In particular microfluidic biochips make the development of fast, sensitive and portable diagnostic tools possible, thus promising rapid and accurate detection of a variety of pathogens. This paper will provide a broad overview of the novel achievements in the field of pathogen sensing by focusing on methods and devices that compliment microfluidics.

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Microfluidic Systems for Pathogen Sensing: A Review

Microfabricated flow cytometers can detect, count, and analyze cells or particles using microfluidics and electronics to give impedance-based characterization. Such systems are being developed to provide simple, low-cost, label-free, and portable solutions for cell analysis. Recent work using microfabricated systems has demonstrated the capability to analyze micro-organisms, erythrocytes, leukocytes, and animal and human cell lines. Multifrequency impedance measurements can give multiparametric, high-content data that can be used to distinguish cell types. New combinations of microfluidic sample handling design and microscale flow phenomena have been used to focus and position cells within the channel for improved sensitivity. Robust designs will enable focusing at high flowrates while reducing requirements for control over multiple sample and sheath flows. Although microfluidic impedance-based flow cytometers have not yet or may never reach the extremely high throughput of conventional flow cytometers, the advantages of portability, simplicity, and ability to analyze single cells in small populations are, nevertheless, where chip-based cytometry can make a large impact.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/cyto.a.20910

Microfluidic impedance‐based flow cytometry

Recent studies on superhydrophobic surfaces have revealed the important roles of structural hierarchy in the overall properties of these surfaces. Here, a novel, versatile, and effi cient technique is introduced for fabricating macroscopic hierarchical superhydrophobic surfaces with both well-defi ned primary microstructures and well-ordered secondary nanostructures using electron-beam lithography. With this technique, the engineering capability of controlling the size, shape, and distribution of the secondary-features is demonstrated, which allows a systematic and quantitative study of the individual effects of these parameters. Superhydrophobic surfaces produced by this new technique exhibit two distinctive wetting behaviors, high and low adhesion. The structural characteristics and structure-property relations of each of those two regimes are discussed.

/pdf/hierarchical-superhydrophobic-surfaces-fabricated-by-dual-30ia5jhal2.pdf

Hierarchical Superhydrophobic Surfaces Fabricated by Dual‐Scale Electron‐Beam‐Lithography with Well‐Ordered Secondary Nanostructures

During recent decades, extensive industrialisation and farming associated with improper waste management policies have led to the release of a wide range of toxic compounds into aquatic ecosystems, causing a rapid decrease of world freshwater resources and thus requiring urgent implementation of suitable legislation to define water remediation and protection strategies. In Europe, the Water Framework Directive aims to restore good qualitative and quantitative status to all water bodies by 2015. To achieve that, extensive monitoring programmes will be required, calling for rapid, reliable and cost-effective analytical methods for monitoring and toxicological impact assessment of water pollutants. In this context, whole cell biosensors appear as excellent alternatives to or techniques complementary to conventional chemical methods. Cells are easy to cultivate and manipulate, host many enzymes able to catalyse a wide range of biological reactions and can be coupled to various types of transducers. In addition, they are able to provide information about the bioavailability and the toxicity of the pollutants towards eukaryotic or prokaryotic cells. In this article, we present an overview of the use of whole cells, mainly bacteria, yeasts and algae, as sensing elements in electrochemical biosensors with respect to their practical applications in water quality monitoring, with particular emphasis on new trends and future perspectives. In contrast to optical detection, electrochemical transduction is not sensitive to light, can be used for analysis of turbid samples and does not require labelling. In some cases, it is also possible to achieve higher selectivities, even without cell modification, by operating at specific potentials where interferences are limited.

Cell-based electrochemical biosensors for water quality assessment

High resolution 100kV electron beam lithography in SU-8

This review with 239 references has as its aim to give the reader an introduction to the kinds of methods used for developing microchip based electrode systems as well as to cover the existing literature on electroanalytical systems where microchips play a crucial role for “none-destructive” measurements of processes related to living cells, i.e., systems without lysing the cells. The focus is on chip based amperometric and impedimetric cell analysis systems where measurements utilizing solely carbon fibre microelectrodes (CFME) and other non-chip electrode formats, such as CFME for exocytosis studies and scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM) studies of living cells have been omitted. Included is also a discussion about some future and emerging nano tools and considerations that might have an impact on the future of “non-destructive” chip based electroanalysis of living cells. (Less)

Chip Based Electroanalytical Systems for Cell Analysis

Interdigitated electrodes made up of two individually addressable interdigitated comb-like electrode structures have frequently been suggested as ultra sensitive electrochemical biosensors. Since the signal enhancement effects due to cycling of the reduced and oxidized species are strongly dependent on the inter electrode distances, since the nature of the enhancement is due to overlying diffusion layers, interdigitated electrodes with an electrode separation of less then one micrometer are desired for maximum signal amplification. Fabrication of submicron structures can only be made by advanced lithography techniques. By use of electron beam lithography we have fabricated arrays of interdigitated electrodes with an electrode separation distance of 200 nm and an electrode finger width of likewise 200 nm. The entire electrode structure is 100 micrometre times 100 micrometre, and the active electrode area is dictated by the opening in the passivation layer, that is defined by UV lithography. Here we report measurements of redox cycling of ferrocyanide by coupled cyclic voltammograms, where the potential at one of the working electrodes are varied and either an oxidising or reducing potential is applied to the complimentary interdigitated electrode. The measurements show fast conversion and high collection efficiency round 87% as expected for nano-interdigitated electrodes.

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1742-6596/100/5/052045/pdf

Characterisation of nano-interdigitated electrodes

Negative UV-NIL (NUV-NIL) - A mix-and-match NIL and UV strategy for realisation of nano- and micrometre structures

Electrochemical transducers are frequently used to electrochemically deposit, synthesize and/or sense chemical compounds in material science, chemistry and biology. Traditionally this is done in fairly large volumes; generally several milliliters to even full production scale tanks, however, for high throughput measurements and combinatorial experiments smaller volumes are generally preferred. To probe small volumes small electrodes with preferable high density are needed. Presented in this paper is how to fabricate interdigitated electrodes by electron beam lithography (EBL) and also how to make large quantities by nanoimprint lithography (NIL) to enable combinatorial studies of cells or materials in microsystems (Lab-on-a-Chip Systems). Interdigitated electrodes are shown to have additional advantages compared to simple disk or rod electrodes, such as being able to perform redox cycling experiments. The collection efficiency for the electrodes with pitch of 400 nm and width of 200 nm fabricated by EBL has been found to be round 87% when characterized electrochemically using ferro-/ferricyanide. The shape of the cyclic voltammograms for the electrodes are also in good agreement with the theoretical expectations for ultramicroelectrodes. Hence, these electrodes should be ideal candidates for combinatorial and high-throughput studies based on electrochemical methods. Furthermore, a fabrication process based on nanoimprint lithography (NIL) is demonstrated, this could potentially ease fabrication and reduce cost of devices. The NIL process is based on thermal imprinting in PMMA 950k and LOR 0.7A.

Lars Henrik Skjolding

Papers

High resolution 100kV electron beam lithography in SU-8

Chip Based Electroanalytical Systems for Cell Analysis

Characterisation of nano-interdigitated electrodes

Negative UV-NIL (NUV-NIL) - A mix-and-match NIL and UV strategy for realisation of nano- and micrometre structures

EBL/NIL fabrication and characterization of interdigitated electrodes for potential application in combinatorial studies.