Traditional planar electrodes for single-particle impedance measurement have difficulty in trapping and positioning particles. This paper proposes a microfluidic device for single-particle trapping and impedance measurement with a microcavity configuration. A carbon dioxide (CO2) laser technique was used to fabricate the microcavity structure, which can capture 15 µm diameter particles without requiring additional trapping structures. The measurement electrodes on both sides of the microcavity were fabricated using electroplating and deposition techniques. The advantages of the microcavity structure and electrodes are discussed. The bottom electrode spreads into the microcavity to increase measurement sensitivity and shrink the exit aperture to around 10 µm for particle trapping. The experimental results show that the device successfully captured particles and distinguished the impedance of a particle from that of phosphate-buffered saline solution.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.