Nec Corporation

Masakazu Baba

Hisao Kawaura

Kazuhiro Iida

Noriyuki Iguchi

Wataru Hattori

Hiroko Someya

Takashi Yokoyama

Toshitsugu Sakamoto

Katsutoshi Takahashi

Minoru Asogawa

Machiko Fujita

A channel () formed in a substrate () branches into channels () at a branch point (). On this branch point, obstacles () having a columnar structure are aligned at certain intervals.

Particle manipulation unit, chip and detection device having the same, mounted thereon, and methods of separating, capturing and detecting proteins

A channel formed on a chip is opened without contaminating contents of the channel. Channels () and () provided on a substrate () are covered by pressing a lid () composed of a resin layer () and a plate-like lid () to a surface of the substrate (). A fixing device has a retainer plate (), which retains the plate-like lid () of a chip (), a board () on which the substrate () is placed, and a screw (). When covering the channels () and (), the screw () is fastened and the lid () is pressed to the substrate () to be fixed. And, when opening an upper portion of the channels () and (), the screw () is turned upward and a pressure is released, and the lid () is removed from the upper potion of the substrate ().

Chip, device using the chip, and method of using the same

After a sample is previously separated into plural components in a channel formed in a microchip (), the channel is irradiated along a separation direction with a laser beam from a laser oscillator () to sequentially ionize each fraction separated in the channel. The ionized fraction is detected by a mass spectrometry unit () and analyzed by an analytical result analyzing unit (). The analytical result is stored in a memory () while associated with position information in a driver control unit () and information on laser beam irradiation condition in a laser control unit (), and the analytical result is imaged by an imaging unit (). The imaged analytical result is displayed on a display ().

Mass spectrometric system and mass spectrometry

A liquid sample () introduced in a main flow passage () is held in a dam portion (), and a trigger liquid () is filled in a trigger flow passage (). In this state, the trigger liquid () is further introduced at desired timing into the trigger flow passage () so that the front end portion of the level of the trigger liquid () is advanced and the front end portion is brought to be into contact with the dam portion (). This causes the liquid sample () to move to the right (downstream side) in the figure, resulting in the liquid sample () flowing out to the downstream side of the main flow passage (). This means that the trigger liquid () provides priming to realize a liquid switch.

Liquid switch, and microchip and mass-analyzing system using the same

A fractionating apparatus is used for fractionating sample into micro-structures different in size, and includes a fractionating unit formed with a fractionating passage; the fractionating passage is defined in a groove formed in a substrate of the fractionating unit, and pillar patches are formed in the groove at intervals wider than the gap among the pillar patches; while the sample is migrated through the fractionating passage, small-sized DNA molecules are trapped in the pillar patches, and large-sized DNA molecules are smoothly migrated through the wide intervals; this results in that the large-sized DNA molecules reaches the end of the fractionating passage faster than the small-sized DNA molecules without clogging.

Fractionating apparatus having colonies of pillars arranged in migration passage at interval and process for fabricating pillars

There is provided a method of patterning a substrate with an atomic mask having a mask substrate and first atoms adsorbed on the mask substrate, the first atoms forming a mask pattern having a one-atomic thickness, including the steps, in sequence, of (a) depositing adatoms over a surface of a substrate to be patterned, the adatoms having low reactivity with second atoms of which the substrate is composed, and (b) putting the atomic mask close to the substrate in such a distance that the first atoms make a chemical bond with the adatoms, so that adatoms located nearest to the first atoms are desorbed out of the substrate to form a pattern on the substrate, the pattern being defined as an area where none of the adatoms exists. In accordance with the above mentioned method, it is possible to form a pattern on the sub-nanometer or nanometer order with high accuracy and in a short period of time, and it is also possible to repeatedly form the same pattern by using the atomic mask.

Method of patterning a substrate with an atomic mask

There is provided a method of patterning a substrate with an atomic mask having a mask substrate and first atoms adsorbed on the mask substrate, the first atoms forming a mask pattern having a one-atomic thickness, including the steps, in sequence, of (a) depositing adatoms over a surface of a substrate to be patterned, the adatoms having low reactivity with second atoms of which the substrate is composed, and (b) placed the atomic mask close to the substrate in such a distance that the first atoms form a chemical bond with the adatoms, so that adatoms located nearest to the first atoms are desorbed out of the substrate to form a pattern on the substrate, the pattern being defined as an area where none of the adatoms exists. In accordance with the above mentioned method, it is possible to form a pattern on the sub-nanometer or nanometer order with high accuracy and in a short period of time, and it is also possible to repeatedly form the same pattern by using the atomic mask.

Growing community of inventors

Tokyo, Japan

Masakazu Baba