Nanofluidic devices have a broad range of applications resulting from the dominance of suiface-fluid interactions. Examples include molecular gating, sample preconcentration, and sample injection. Manipulation of small fluid samples is ideal for micro total analysis systems or lab on chip devices which perform multiple unit operations on a single chip. In this paper, fabrication procedures for two different ultra-low aspect ratio (ULAR) channel network designs are presented. The ULAR provides increased throughput compared to higher aspect ratio features with the same critical dimensions. Channel network designs allow for integration between microscale and nanoscale fluidic networks. A modified calcium assisted glass-glass bonding procedure was developed to fabricate chemically uniform, all glass nanochannels. A polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)-glass adhesive bonding procedure was also developed as adhesive bonding allows for more robust fabrication with lower sensitivity to surface defects. The fabrication schemes presented allow for a broad array of available parameters for facile selection of device fabrication techniques depending on desired applications for tab on chip devices.

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Nanopores were fabricated using a transmission electron microscope (TEM). By manipulating TEM parameters, such as relative stage settings, electron beam shape and dwell time, it was possible to fabricate both single and ordered arrangements of nanopores with controlled geometries in silicon nitride membranes supported on a silicon window. Three distinct nanopore geometries with circular, elliptical and triangular cross-sections were fabricated. The smallest critical dimension reported here is on the order of 3 nm for the elliptical pore.

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Hybrid microfluidic and nanofluidic devices have recently been developed for a variety of applications including water desalination, molecular gates, and other lab-on-chip uses. In this paper, we report on a 2-step wet etch process to fabricate hybrid microfluidic and nanofluidic devices with controllable features including a sloped nanochannel. The nanochannels with slit-like geometry can be fabricated with dimensions as small as 50 nm depth and a width of 30 μm for a minimum aspect ratio of 0.002. The channels are several cm long.