Investigations into a silicon-based MEMS lab on a chip.

The goal of this thesis is to explore the use of Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems for biochemical analysis. The work consists of two projects; the first deals with the fabrication and testing of MEMS a die, the second an application oriented investigation providing incremental steps towards establishing an environment for a lab-on-a-chip research group. The first project relates to the fabrication of MEMS structures, and is an investigation of a low-cost post processing lab to determine if an in-house post processing environment for standard CMOS processes using KOH etching would be beneficial and feasible. This project also links available Canadian Microelectronics Corporation (CMC) supported fabrication processes (Mitel 1.5mum CMOS) to a commercial CAD package (IntelliCAD from Intellisense Inc.). For the second project in the thesis we have taken two specific examples; a DNA replication system and a MEMS electrophoresis technique used to separate organic material using an electric field. The DNA replication technique to be used is referred to as Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR). (Abstract shortened by UMI.)Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Paper copy at Leddy Library: Theses & Major Papers - Basement, West Bldg. / Call Number: Thesis2001 .B78. Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 40-03, page: 0751. Thesis (M.A.Sc.)--University of Windsor (Canada), 2001