SBIR/STTR Phase I: Microfabricated Silicon Devices for Low Cost Microarray

This Small Business Innovation Research Project proposes to use silicon microfabrication techniques to produce new silicon spotting pins that will be used for the preparation of microarrays. Microarray technology has rapidly spread into many diverse areas of biological research. The preparation of a large portion of these arrays is accomplished by direct contact printing using high precision metal spotting pins, which are individually machined at costs up to $400 each. Using straightforward silicon microfabrication techniques,this company has prepared prototype silicon spotting pins, holders and transfer devices for the preparation of microarrays whose performance characteristics are expected to far exceed those of current state-of-the-art devices. Advantages of silicon spotting pins over machined metal components include 10-100 fold higher dimensional tolerances, less than 1% of the weight (lighter pressure gives more uniform spots), tip hardness, the ability to chemically modify the SiO2 surface of the pins to control wetting and liquid uptake/release, higher pin density in array (higher spot density in microarray), more precise volumetric uptake into pin, lower surface friction (ease of sliding movement in holder), resistance of tip to bending damage and the ability to fabricate complex features not obtainable by traditional machine shop fabrication. Since the parts will be mass produced, it is estimated that a hundred to a thousand fold reduction in cost per pin would result.

The commercial applications of this project are in the area of DNA microarrays.