9 May 2008 & 16 May 2008

Purpose of Carrying Out Fabrication of Biochip Practical

The purpose of doing this practical is basically to prepare us for our Final Year Project (FYP). This practical gives us the fundamental understanding on how to manufacture a micro-channel in a chip which is going to be used for our FYP. Due to this understanding, we can now be able to create flow channels in the chip to study closely on how the fluid particles flow within these small channels on various patterns which we are interested in.

What have we learnt?

We learnt how to use the various machines which were useful for our project ahead. By doing this we also get to know why is each step important, what does each step does and how it works, from cutting a piece of glass to cleaning the glass with numerous chemicals, coating the glass pieces with photo-resist to using Ultra-violet light to imprint a pattern on the glass microchip and cleanse it to produce the final product.

What difficulties we encountered

When handling the glass pieces for cleaning and other procedures, we encountered some problems of handling the glass pieces using a pincer as it was quite difficult to grip the glass especially when it was wet

Conclusion

In conclusion, we have learnt that patience and accuracy are the two most important points in doing this practical as every procedures is crucial as a small mistake in any process can ruin the whole chip or it may cause some chemical residues to be left on the glass causing the product to be defective. When doing the actual micro channel, the procedures may vary according to the TSO, but by we were still able to grasp hold of the finer details in making a mircro channel.

Credits

Mr Goh, TSO of the nano frabrication lab in T12a, for helping us and guiding us throughout the whole experiment and the start of our project