Fluidic sensor devices utilizing dry film resist as main structural materials

In this thesis, two types of fluidic sensor devices are demonstrated. The first device utilizes a dry film resist (DFR) as the main structural material of fluidic device utilizing the photolithography process. The second one involves a simple, low-cost sensor platform composed of ubiquitous materials such as polymer tubing and metal wires. Both devices are prepared to measure the dissolved oxygen content, as a model target analyte, based on the oxygen quenching reaction of a ruthenium complex fluorophore as the reporting agent. Characterization of sensors is conducted based on the fluorescence lifetime measurement. The first type of sensor is constructed with a novel epoxy-based, optically-transparent DFR (PerMX 3000 series, DuPont). This material is utilized as the main active material for fluidic structure and optical interrogation. The fluorophore is incorporated into a poly( ethylene glycol) (PEG)-based hydro gel material, which is lithographically patterned and embedded inside the PerMX fluidic channel after wafer-bonding process. The device exhibits a good linear response in the biological oxygen saturation range (0 - 21%), demonstrating the promise of PerMX-based fluidic systems as a good device platform for various optofluidic assays. Secondly, an extremely simple assembly of a fluorophore-coated metal wire inserted into a polymeric microbore tube is utilized as the main device structure. We demonstrate that the fluorescence oxygen sensing can be conducted using this cost-effective, I-dimensional device platform. This lab-in-tube configuration has a high potential for conducting a streamlined immunoassay procedure with unprecedented convenience for fluidic manipulation --Abstract, page iv