This paper presents dramatic improvements in the micro-fabrication of three-dimensional microfluidic channels and high-aspect ratio tunnels within the bulk of a fused silica substrate. We also report the fabrication of optical waveguides within the same substrate, which is a major step towards the integration of sensing capabilities within microfluidic networks. This integrated device, which combines both fluidic channels and optical waveguides, opens new opportunities in bio- and chemical sensing. The flexibility of the improved manufacturing process offers substantial new design capabilities, especially for single channel probing and massively parallel processing and sensing.
Christoph Merten, Xiaoli Ma, Leonie Kolmar, Hongxing Hu
Francesco Carrara, Jiande Zhou