Why Glass?
Glass is chemically inert
Glass is proven chemically inert to most liquids and gases. Aggressive polymer solvents such as THF, which generally dissolve or at least swell plastics, do not attack glass at all. Furthermore there is no interference with your reaction or analysis by any residues, which are known to dissolve out of plastics in some cases.
Glass is stable in time
Glass has material properties that are stable in time and it is thus preferable for applications in which devices are used extensively, such as in high throughput screening. For products that need a reliable shelf life glass is a good material to work with.
Glass is optically clear
Glass is also known for its superior optical properties, useful with optical detection and analysis methods. Fused silica offers transparency down to UV wavelengths. Furthermore, the auto fluorescence of glass is considerably smaller than of most polymer materials.
Glass is hydrophilic
Glass is hydrophilic, meaning it attracts and holds moisture. Most plastics, in comparison, are hydrophobic and need treatment to become hydrophilic. If hydrophobic surfaces are needed, we can modify the glass surface by applying a coating to the channels.
Glass is non-porous
Glass is non-porous, implying that small molecules will not be able to diffuse into the material and sometimes even worse, diffuse back into the solution at a later stage, thus contaminating your experiments. As it is known that most orally active drugs are small molecules (< 500 Da, one of the famous Lipinski's rules of five), this is particularly important when working with drugs. It has indeed been shown that small molecules can interfere with your results, when working with polymer-based materials.
Glass is suitable for prototyping
The processes used to create microstructures out of glass are very suitable for prototyping and more economical compared to polymers. Another advantage of making prototypes in glass is that the chip prototyping processes are identical to the processes used for manufacturing. This provides the user with prototypes that are identical to the product that will be manufactured in high volumes.
Glass is cheap
Glass is a cheap material, contrary to common belief. Some glass types are only a few euros per kilo. This results in material costs that can be low enough to compete with polymers devices, while still having all the advantages of using glass.
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Micronit focuses on glass as basic material for our products, sometimes combined with other materials such as silicon, polymers or metals. What are the benefits of glass compared to other materials?
Glass is chemically inert Glass is proven chemically inert to most liquids and gases. Aggressive polymer solvents such as THF, which generally dissolve or at least swell plastics, do not attack glass at all. Furthermore there is no interference with your reaction or analysis by any residues, which are known to dissolve out of plastics in some cases.
Glass is stable in time Glass has material properties that are stable in time and it is thus preferable for applications in which devices are used extensively, such as in high throughput screening. For products that need a reliable shelf life glass is a good material to work with.
Glass is optically clear Glass is also known for its superior optical properties, useful with optical detection and analysis methods. Fused silica offers transparency down to UV wavelengths. Furthermore, the auto fluorescence of glass is considerably smaller than of most polymer materials.
Glass is hydrophilicGlass is hydrophilic, meaning it attracts and holds moisture. Most plastics, in comparison, are hydrophobic and need treatment to become hydrophilic. If hydrophobic surfaces are needed, we can modify the glass surface by applying a coating to the channels.
Glass is non-porous
Glass is non-porous, implying that small molecules will not be able to diffuse into the material and sometimes even worse, diffuse back into the solution at a later stage, thus contaminating your experiments. As it is known that most orally active drugs are small molecules (< 500 Da, one of the famous Lipinski's rules of five), this is particularly important when working with drugs. It has indeed been shown that small molecules can interfere with your results, when working with polymer-based materials.
Glass is suitable for prototypingThe processes used to create microstructures out of glass are very suitable for prototyping and more economical compared to polymers. Another advantage of making prototypes in glass is that the chip prototyping processes are identical to the processes used for manufacturing. This provides the user with prototypes that are identical to the product that will be manufactured in high volumes.
Glass is cheapGlass is a cheap material, contrary to common belief. Some glass types are only a few euros per kilo. This results in material costs that can be low enough to compete with polymers devices, while still having all the advantages of using glass.
Micronit Microfluidics uses different types of glass, depending on the application of
the end user. Go to Glass to know more details on these types.