UC Merced Office of Research

Background

Many currently-used nanochip fabrication methods were originally derived from methods used for making semiconductor microchips. The inherent difficulties in working with semiconductor materials such as silicon has prompted the development of numerous fabrication methods that require expensive equipment, labor-intensive procedures, complicated multi-step protocols for reducing new designs to small-scale structures, and ultra-clean working environments. Having borrowed many of these techniques for its own use, the nanochip industry has also inherited many of their shortcomings, creating a pressing need for novel fabrication methods that are not as capital-intensive nor as complicated and time-consuming.

Description

Researchers at the University of California, Merced (UC Merced) have developed nanochip fabrication methods using biodegradable plastics that enable complex structures to be manufactured on chips at a macro-scale and then shrunk to a much smaller scale by a simple heating procedure while retaining the original design. Variations of these methods permit the fabrication of chips that incorporate metallized strips, quantum dots, and other nano-structural enhancements, so that the nanochips can be adapted to serve many different applications.

Applications

A licensee of this invention is currently using this technology to develop a wide variety of nano-devices, including nanochips for advanced solar cells, microfluidics, nano-scale lighting systems, materials and biological materials processing (including novel stem cell research tools), and biosensors and other "lab on chip" applications.

Advantages

Nanochip devices made using the UC Merced method can be designed and protyped in a matter of a few hours without the costly equipment or labor intensive processes typically required by older nano-fabrication methods. Design, manufacturing, and material costs are all substantially lower with this method, and the overall research and development cycle is greatly speeded up.

Publication

Shrinky-Dink microfluidics: rapid generation of deep and rounded patterns, Lab Chip, 8:170–172, 2008.

Patent Status

Patent Pending

Inventors

• Breslauer, David
• Chen, Chi-Shuo
• Dunlap, Michael R.
• Ghosh, Sayantani
• Gopinathan, Ajay
• Grimes, Anthony A.
• Khine, Michelle
• Lee, Luke P.
• Lee, Luke P.

Other Information

Contact

David Cepoi / dcepoi@ucmerced.edu / tel: View Phone Number. Please reference Tech ID #19666.

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