Optical particle detection integrated in a dielectrophoretic lab-on-a-chip

The design and fabrication of a dielectrophoretic "lab-on-a-chip" device for bioparticle processing and counting is presented. The device consists of a multi-layer travelling wave dielectrophoretic electrode array for manipulating particles and/or fluids, micro channels for delivering samples, and optical fibres for counting particles and/or measuring their velocities. Single particles were detected optically using either light scattering or fluorescence emission. The technology described in this work is potentially applicable to a range of particulate diagnostic systems