JPH09304340A - Electrophoretic device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To miniaturize a device and improve reproducibility of the measurement by infiltrating a sample into a porous silicon layer formed in a silicon substrate, applying an electric field thereon, and separating/analyzing the components in the sample. SOLUTION: A porous silicone layer 11 is formed in a silicon substrate 10 and a sealing glass 12 (a sealing material) is arranged on its top part by being joined with a positive electrode. A sample is infiltrated into the porous silicon layer 11, and an electric field is applied thereon from the electrodes 13, 14 so that the components in the sample are separated and analyzed. This consistution eliminates necessity for preparing gel for migration at every measurement, so that the measurement can be simplified. The porous silicone layer 11 or a small-size migration layer is formed on the silicon substrate 10, so that even a small sample can be analyzed. The size of fine holes decided by conversion conditions of a positive electrode can be prepared with superior reproducibility, so that the reproducibility of the measurement result is superior compared with the use of the gel.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electrophoretic apparatus for separating and analyzing colloidal particles or polymers by moving them in an electric field by applying an electric field to the colloidal particles or polymer, and particularly to a compact and highly reproducible measurement. The present invention relates to an electrophoretic device improved so that

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an electrophoretic device migrates a molecule charged with an electric field through a porous gel having a molecular sieving effect to separate and analyze the molecule. Widely used.

Starch or polymer gel is used as the molecular sieve in this case, and these molecular sieves are prepared in the electrophoretic tank and prepared for each measurement and sandwiched between glass plates.

[0004]

However, the above-mentioned electrophoresis apparatus has a problem that it is difficult to maintain the homogeneity of the gel composition each time it is measured, and the reproducibility cannot be strictly obtained. There is.

Further, it is necessary to prepare a migration tank for each measurement, and it takes time and labor to prepare for the measurement, and there is also a problem that efficient analysis cannot be performed.

[0006]

As a constitution for solving the above-mentioned problems, the present invention forms a porous silicon layer on a silicon substrate and arranges a sealant on the porous silicon layer to form a porous material. The sample is permeated into the silicon layer and an electric field is applied to the sample to separate and analyze the components in the sample.

[0007]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing an embodiment of the present invention. By subjecting the single crystal silicon substrate 10 containing p-type impurities to anodization, a porous silicon layer 11 having a large number of holes with a diameter of about 10 nm is formed in a mesh shape on the anode side.

In this anodizing treatment, the silicon substrate 10 is placed in a hydrogen fluoride solution, electrodes are provided on both sides of the silicon substrate 10, and a DC voltage is applied between these electrodes. On the anode side of the porous silicon layer 11
Is utilized.

The thickness of the porous silicon layer 11 is determined by controlling the treatment time of anodization, and is several μm.
Thicknesses of up to several 100 μm can be obtained. The pore size of the porous silicon layer 11 depends on the impurity concentration of the silicon substrate 10 and the conditions of anodization.

The pore size thus formed in the porous silicon layer 11 is about 10 nm in diameter, and this pore size is similar to polyacrylamide gel having a molecular sieving effect which is often used in electrophoresis. Becomes

This porous porous silicon layer 11 is hydrophobic immediately after production and does not absorb water, but when heated at about 400 ° C. in the air, the porous porous silicon layer 11 becomes inside the porous silicon. The natural oxide film grows and absorbs water.

A sealing glass 12 is anodically bonded onto the porous silicon layer 11 to seal the upper surface of the silicon layer 11. At this time, the remaining portions of the porous silicon layer 11 obtained by forming the sealing glass 12 to be shorter than the length of the porous silicon layer 11 are used as the electrodes 13 and 14. The electrophoretic device 15 is formed as described above.

FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 are configuration diagrams for explaining an example of analyzing a protein using the above-described electrophoresis device 15.
2 shows the first step which is a preliminary step of the analysis, and FIG. 3 shows the second step which is the analysis step.

Reference numeral 16 is a container in which a sample solution 17 made of protein is stored.
And a sample derivation fiber 19 made of cloth, sponge, etc.
One end of is inserted.

Reference numeral 20 is a container in which an electrolyte solution 21 having a pH of about 8 to 9 is housed, and an electrode 22 and a sample lead-out fiber 23 having the same structure as the sample lead-out fiber 19 are contained in the container 20. One end of is inserted.

The other ends of the sample lead-out fibers 19 and 23 are
The electrodes are connected to the electrodes 13 and 14, respectively, and the electrode 18 is connected to the cathode of the DC power supply 24, and the electrode 21 is connected to the anode of the DC power supply 23.

With the above configuration, when a DC voltage is applied from the DC power supply 24 for a short time, the sample extraction fiber 1
The sample solution 17 permeates the porous silicon layer 11 from the cathode side via 9.

Next, the procedure goes to the analysis step shown in FIG. In this case, the container 16 is replaced with a container 26 filled with an electrolytic solution 25 similar to the electrolytic solution 21, and the DC power source 24
DC voltage is applied from.

As a result, the sample that has penetrated into the porous silicon layer 11 starts electrophoresis from the cathode side toward the anode side, and as shown in FIG. 3, the inside of the porous silicon layer 11 is changed according to the mobility of the components. Sample components 27a, 27b, 27c
Etc. are separated and deployed.

The result of this migration can be measured by observing the fluorescence obtained by irradiating ultraviolet rays from the upper part of the glass 12 to the vicinity of the end of the porous silicon layer 11 on the anode side.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the sealing glass 12 is anodically bonded to the upper part of the porous silicon layer 11, but not limited to this, for example, a glass coated with a sealing material such as silicone rubber. Alternatively, just pressing the transparent plastic plate to fix it will work similarly. In this case, the work of permeating the electrolytic solution before the measurement can be performed by removing the glass portion, and the time can be shortened.

By utilizing the fact that the porous silicon layer 11 which is an electrophoretic layer is formed on the silicon substrate 10, a fluorescence measuring element which can be constituted by a phototransistor or the like is integrated on this silicon substrate 10. Is possible. By doing so, the adjustment of the condensing optical system becomes unnecessary, and the convenience of measurement is further improved.

[0023]

As described above in detail with the embodiments of the invention, according to the present invention, since the porous silicon layer is used, it is necessary to prepare a gel for electrophoresis every time of measurement. There is a merit that the measurement will be simple and easy.

Moreover, since the porous silicon layer, which is a small electrophoretic layer, is formed on the silicon substrate, analysis can be performed with a small amount of sample. Furthermore, since the size of the pores determined by the anodizing conditions can be produced with good reproducibility, the reproducibility of the measurement results is better than that of the conventional configuration using gel.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 shows a first step which is a preliminary step when performing an analysis using the electrophoresis apparatus shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a second analytical step following the preliminary step shown in FIG.
Indicates steps.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 Silicon Substrate 11 Porous Silicon Layer 12 Sealing Glass 13, 14 Electrode 15 Electrophoresis Device 16, 20, 26 Container 17 Sample Solution 18, 22 Electrode 19, 23 Sample Derivation Fiber 21, 25 Electrolyte 24 DC Power Supply 27a, 27b, 27c components

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A component in a sample is formed by forming a porous silicon layer on a silicon substrate, arranging a sealing material on the porous silicon layer, allowing the sample to penetrate the porous silicon layer, and applying an electric field thereto. An electrophoretic device, characterized by separating and analyzing