This paper outlines the fabrication process of the partition component, a crucial element in digital PCR. The partition component consists of thousands of micro-wells capable of holding small volumes of reagents. In this study, the partition component was created in a honeycomb structure, with hexagonally shaped micro-wells measuring 100 μm in size and spaced 20 μm apart. The fabrication process involved using photolithography, lift-off, and electroplating techniques. Photolithography and lift-off processes were employed to create a pattern of Cu metal layers in a hexagonal honeycomb arrangement on a glass substrate. Subsequently, the Cu metal-patterned substrate was used to produce pillar patterns of SU-8 with a high aspect ratio using photolithography. Finally, the gaps between the SU-8 pillar patterns were filled with nickel through electroplating, completing the partition component. The micro-wells in the partition component were designed to have an aspect ratio of 4-5; however, in this study, micro-wells with an aspect ratio of 2 and a depth of 200 μm were fabricated.

In this study, a carbon nanotube probe (CNT probe) is proposed as a mechanical force transducer for the measurement of pico-Newton (pN) order force in biological applications. In order to measure nantube's displacement in the air or liquid environment ,the fabrication of a CNT probe with tip-specific loading of fluorescent dyes is performed using tip-specific functionalization of the nanotube and chemical bonding between dyes and nanotube. Also, we experimentally investigated the mechanical properties of the CNT probe using electrostatic actuation and fluorescence microscope measurement. Using fluorescence measurement of the tip deflection according to the applied voltage, we optimized the bending stiffness of the CNT probe, therefore determined the spring constant of the CNT probe. The results show that the spring constant of CNT probes is as small as 1 pN/㎚ and CNT probes can be used to measure pN order force.

In this paper, we proposed a new method to control the length of carbon nanotube using electrochemical etching.
We made a nano probe that was composed of the tungsten tip and multi-wall carbon nanotube. The nano probe was placed on the nano stage and the carbon nanotube on the nano probe was etched in the electrolyte solution with the applied voltage. The overall procedures were done under optical microscope and can be monitored. We can obtain a nano probe with proper length through this procedure.