Thermocycling system, composition, and microfabrication method

Inventors

Brahmasandra, Sundaresh • Haddock, Thomas • Duffy, Patrick • Williams, Jeffrey

Assignees

NeumoDx Molecular Inc

Abstract

A system and method of manufacture for the system, comprising a set of heater-sensor dies, each heater-sensor die comprising an assembly including a first insulating layer, a heating region comprising an adhesion material layer coupled to the first insulating layer and a noble material layer, and a second insulating layer coupled to the heating region and to the first insulating layer through a pattern of voids in the heating region, wherein the pattern of voids in heating region defines a coarse pattern associated with a heating element of the heating region and a fine pattern, integrated into the coarse pattern and associated with a sensing element of the heating region; an electronics substrate configured to couple heating elements and sensing elements of the set of heater-sensor dies to a controller; and a set of elastic elements configured to bias each of the set of heater-sensor dies against a detection chamber.

Core Innovation

The disclosure describes a system for thermocycling biological samples within detection chambers. The system includes a set of heater-sensor dies, and each heater-sensor die includes an assembly with a first insulating layer and a heating region. The heating region includes a heating element, a sensing element, an adhesion material layer coupled to the first insulating layer, and a noble metal layer coupled to the adhesion material layer, together with a second insulating layer coupled through a pattern of voids in the heating region.

The pattern of voids defines a multi-scale morphology in the heating region. A first pattern comprising a global morphology at a first size scale is associated with the heating element, and a second pattern comprising a local morphology at a second size scale smaller than the first size scale is integrated into the first pattern and associated with the sensing element. This arrangement enables the heating element and the sensing element to share a void-pattern-defined region while maintaining different global and local morphology scales.

The disclosure further describes coupling heater-sensor dies to a controller through an electronics substrate, and biasing the heater-sensor dies against detection chambers using a set of elastic elements during operation. In the described implementations, an intermediate buffer layer comprising at least one of platinum and titanium is situated between the adhesion material layer and the noble metal layer and is operable to provide a barrier against diffusion. The disclosure also describes features for stabilizing resistance behavior using annealed layers and for reducing light reflection toward photodetectors using a coating near a heating surface.

Claims Coverage

The partial content includes two independent claims. Across these independent claims, the core inventive coverage comprises void-pattern-defined global and local morphologies for a heater-sensor die heating region, a layered material stack with adhesion material and noble metal, and an intermediate platinum/titanium diffusion-barrier buffer layer.

The independent claims collectively focus on heater-sensor dies for thermocycling biological samples in detection chambers where a void-pattern defines global morphology for a heating element and integrated local morphology for a sensing element, supported by layered insulation and an adhesion/noble-metal material stack, with system-level electronics coupling and elastic biasing to maintain die-to-chamber contact; the second independent claim additionally specifies a platinum/titanium intermediate diffusion-barrier buffer layer.

Stated Advantages

Documented Applications