nanometers nanotechnology Nanometer Scale Fluidic Channel Devices with Access Ports Docket: UAH-P-07001 Technology Researchers at UAH have invented a nanometer scale fluidic channel device and a process for fabricating this device. The fabrication process takes advantage of the standard UV photolithography and thermal glass bonding process, which makes nanofluidic devices optically transparent with low fabrication cost. These nanofluidic devices include: single fluidic channel, channel arrays, fluidic channel combiners, splitters, and any channel configurations. The fluidic devices have macro-size fluidic input/output access ports. The demonstrated fluidic channel device has a cross section dimension of 100 nm. The channel cross section size can be made to 10 nm. The nanofluidic device can also be scaled up to micro-scale with the same technique. Following is a comparison made between the lowest cross section attainable and the cross sections of several nano objects: Nano Objects Cross Section UAH invented nano-fluidic channel As low as 10 nanometers Viruses 5 to 300 nanometers Small bacteria About 100 nanometers Large molecules 10-20 nanometers Human hair 50,000–80,000 nanometers Applications Molecular nanotechnology Low-concentration chemical measurement and analysis Medical instrumentation for analyzing cancer cells and viruses. Tissue probes Advantages Channel cross-section as low as 10 nanometers Nanofluidic channels can have macro-size fluidic input/output access ports. Optically transparent Uses standard UV photolithography and thermal bonding process. Low-cost mass production Status State of Development: Prototype Licensing Status: Available for licensing Patent Status: Patent pending