A polymerase chain reaction (PCR) microchip array with a dimension of 21.3×17.5 mm2 has been fabricated by the silicon micromachining technique. The chip is composed of 192 rectangular reaction chambers with the volume of 50 nL. In order to package the silicon-based PCR chip, a low-temperature bonding technique using polymers as the intermediate layers has been developed. The tested polymers include positive photoresist, polyimide, and epoxy. Using stamping and sandwich techniques, void-free and liquid-proof bondings of silicon to a glass cover were achieved with the three polymers. The experimental results of fluorescence-based PCR demonstrate that the DNA amplification can be performed in the chip arrays with nanoliter volumes and the polymer bonding technique is biocompatible and suitable for the microchip packaging.

Keywords:
PCR, Microchip Array, Polymer Bonding, DNA Amplification, silicon, conducting polymers, micromechanical devices, micromachining, adhesive bonding, fluorescence, Raman spectra, chip scale packaging, photoresists, DNA
Topics:
Bonding, DNA, Fluorescence, Integrated circuits, Packaging, Photoresists, Polymers, Epoxy adhesives, Epoxy resins, Silicon, Glass, Silicon chips
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