Micromachined glass chips for ion analysis

This article describes recent developments at Micronit Microfluidics B.V. and MESA+ in the field of "Lab-on-a-chip" systems for ion analysis. Glass chips with typical micromachined channel geometries for capillary electrophoresis and integrated conductivity detection were developed, with which separation of cation mixtures was performed within a few minutes. The reproducibility of the measurement method was investigated and found to be within a few percent. Application areas for these chips, in combination with portable electronic equipment, are blood ion analysis, ion analysis for environmental, agricultural or horticultural water monitoring and process control in chemical industry.