Micronit can handle glass sheets down to 30 µm thickness. Thin glass is especially suitable to use as bottom layer for microfluidic chips, as it enables the chips to be used with confocal microscopy.
Confocal Microscopy
Confocal Microscopy offers many advantages over conventional optical microscopy. The rejection of out-of-focus information leads to better imaging and a better resolution; moreover it gives the ability to have a controllable depth of field. As the light source is localised, background noise will be eliminated.
When using a confocal microscope with glass microfluidic chips it is important that the chip has a thin bottom. Micronit can integrate this thin bottom; we etch channels and cavities in thin glass down to 100 µm.
Applications
Microfluidic chips with a thin bottom can be used for heating purposes, as the thin glass will lead to a quick heat transfer. Thin chips are also perfectly suitable for XRF applications, as the thin bottom will have very little X-ray absorption.
Standard Thin Bottom Chips
Micronit offers standard microfluidic chips with a thin bottom layer, available off-the-shelf. They all have a bottom layer of 145 µm and can be ordered in the webshop.
The standard thin bottom CE chip and microreactor chips can be used with the Micronit lab-on-a-chip kit.
| Functionality | Type | Dimensions | Channel width/depth | Channel length | Well volume |
| CE chip | X3550CH.3 | 45 x 15 x 1.25 mm | 50 µm / 20 µm | 35 mm (separation) | N/A |
| Microreactor | R50.332.3 | 45 x 15 x 1.25 mm | 50 µm / 20 µm | 332 mm | N/A |
| Microreactor | R50.676.3 | 45 x 15 x 1.25 mm | 50 µm / 20 µm | 676 mm | N/A |
| Microtiter plate | MPG 96.3 | 22.5 x 45 x 1.25 mm | N/A | N/A | 1.5 µl |
| Microtiter plate | MPG 384.3 | 45 x 90 x 1.25 mm | N/A | N/A | 1.5 µl |
As mentioned before, we etch channels in thin glass down to 100 µm. Contact us for a customized thin glass microfluidic device.