Mikrofluidik-Chips

Microfluidic chips are becoming the new paradigm for chemical processing and analysis in the laboratory. Hair-fine channels made in planar substrates using silicon processing technologies replace beakers and tubing for automated liquid transport and handling on a sub-μ L scale. Reduced conduit diameters mean enhanced analytical performance, especially in terms of shortened analysis times, which can be reduced from minutes to seconds. Furthermore, the integration of all the steps of a chemical analysis procedure onto a miniaturized chip allows for the development of portable instruments for Point-of-Care diagnostics. Another trend in recent years sees researchers exploring the use of micromachined structures as microreactors for chemical synthesis, for applications as varied as combinatorial chemistry and large scale industrial chemical production. In this article, the concept of microfluidics is introduced and the technology described. Strengths and weaknesses are discussed, and reasons why microfluidics has become such an important technology for chemists and biologists alike are given