Design and fabrication of an addressable MEMS-based dielectrophoretic microparticle array

Abstract

(cont.) enough to conduct functional genetic surveys.

At present, no widespread tool or technology is available to enable active screening of complex cellular phenotypes. Such desired screens mandate sorting of subsets of cells within an overarching population based upon concerns such as morphological characteristics and/or dynamic processes witnessed in localized regions of individual cells over specified time courses. This thesis presents a sequence of design, simulation, fabrication, and testing routines exercised in demonstrating a first-round, proof-of-concept cytometer offering new avenues for addressing the investigation of such screening processes. The methods and tools outlined in this report employ Microelectromechanical Systems (MEMS) technologies to produce electrode structures sized in accordance with single-cell dimensions that afford viable sorting of individual cells through a novel row/column addressability scheme. This addressing scheme and its associated electrode configurations avoids dependencies upon active on-chip transistor-based devices. Implementing such a "simplified" design reliant upon voltage differences between different sets of activation electrodes framed the problem in the context of an approachable academic research endeavor. This report presents two distinct bioMEMS device implementations incorporating negative and positive dielectrophoretic forces for single-cell capture and manipulation. Offered here is the first-known demonstration of the scalability of dielectrophoretic cell trapping technologies where the interconnect requirements grow proportional to Vn in nxn trapping grids. This reduction in electrical ties to off-chip circuitry renders an operative tool for biological screening assays with the potential for demonstrating sorting operations on populations sizeable