Micro fluidic biochip for bio-medical application

Abstract

Over the past years there have been a number of recent advances in the fields of miniaturized chemical reactions, including the construction of fully integrated 'lab-on-chip' system. The term of biochip has been used in various contexts, but can be defined as "microelectronic device used for processing (delivery, analyses, or detection) of biological molecules and species". This paper describes a micro fluidic biochip realized on silicon wafers using standard micro fabrication techniques. The biochip is designed to be complex and versatile; it contains: reservoirs (wells), microchannels and the main microreactor for the biological material. The cell behaviour in the test reactors can be optically monitored during the exhibition to various stimuli such as drug solutions, electric impulses, or change of the temperature. Two or three electrodes are foreseen in order to investigate the electrical and electrochemical activity of the biological material. On the backside of the chip heating resistances would assure a constant body fluid temperature or other temperature cycles.