AN ELECTRO-OSMOTIC FLOW DRIVEN ULTRA SMALL VOLUME PIPETTING DEVICE FABRICATED WITH ELECTRO-CONDUCTIVE TUBING

摘要

The present invention relates to a device for injecting and extracting accurately infinitesimal amount of sample according to a magnitude of volage and a direction of current applied to a device for generating an electroosmotic flow by coupling ultra-micro capillaries for injecting and extracting the sample with an electroosmotic flow generating device in which an electrical circuit is completed through an electroconductive membrane, and a method for manufacturing the same. The device according to the present invention is invented for injecting and extracting accurately infinitesimal amount of sample for the single cell as the object, however, the present invention can be applied to all the other fields in which infinitesimal amount of sample should be accurately treated. As compared with the conventional air pressure type or mechanical pumping method having various problems due to an extreme resistance to the fluid flowed through the ultra-micro capillary, in the electroosmotic flow-type device, a driving force is generated on a surface of inner wall of the capillary so that there is no a resistance in the capillary although the fluid is flowed therein. Also, since a regulation of the driving force is achived by an accurate and simple regulation of the voltage, a flow of infinitesimal amount of fluid can be accurately controlled. In the present invention, the capillary for generating the electroosmotic flow is directly coupled with the capillary for extracting the sample through the electroconductive tube, the electroosmotic flow-type ultra-micro pipet divce in which a dead volume generated at a coupling section is minimized can be conveniently manufactured and employed.