title: Miniaturized and integrated fluorescence detectors for microfluidic capillary electrophoresis devices.
abstract: Microfluidic devices are revolutionary in their ability to use very small quantities of liquid samples and to perform biochemical analyses with unprecedented speed. Toward the goal of a lab-on-a-chip that integrates a series of analysis steps and analytical components into a single microfluidic device, one of the most critical aspects of size reduction is miniaturizing and integrating the fluorescence detection system. We present here details of a new integrated fluorescence detection system. A microfluidic biochemical analysis device is mounted on a compact detection platform that comprises a fluorescence-collecting microlens and micromachined fluorescence detector in which a multilayer optical interference filter is monolithically integrated and patterned on a hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) photodiode. A central aperture in the micromachined a-Si:H fluorescence detector allows semiconductor laser light to pass up through the detector and to irradiate a microchannel of the microfluidic analysis device. Such an optical configuration enables a detachable, reusable, compact module to be constructed for the excitation source and detector. The micromachined a-Si:H fluorescence detector exhibits high sensitivity for practical fluorescent labeling dye, making it ideal for application to portable point-of-care microfluidic biochemical analysis devices.
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Ibaraki, Japan.
authors.forename: Toshihiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kamei
mesh_terms: D015374:Biosensing Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D046209:Electrophoresis, Microchip / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D008904:Miniaturization; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013050:Spectrometry, Fluorescence / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D018511:Systems Integration