Diamond electrophoretic microchips-Joule heating effects

Microchip electrophoresis (MCE) has become a mature separation technique in the recent years. In the presented research, a polycrystalline diamond electrophoretic microchip was manufactured with a microwave plasma chemical vapour deposition (MPCVD) method. A replica technique (mould method) was used to manufacture microstructures in diamond. A numerical analysis with CoventorWare (TM) was used to compare thermal properties during chip electrophoresis of diamond and glass microchips of the same geometries. Temperature distributions in microchips were demonstrated. Thermal, electrical, optical, chemical and mechanical parameters of the polycrystalline diamond layers are advantageous over traditionally used materials for microfluidic devices. Especially, a very high thermal conductivity coefficient gives a possibility of very efficient dissipation of Joule heat from the diamond electrophoretic microchip. This enables manufacturing of a new generation of microdevices. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.