A One-Square-Millimeter Compact Hollow Structure for Microfluidic Pumping on an All-Glass Chip

A micro surface tension pump is a new type of low-cost, built-in, all-glass, microfluidic pump on a glass microchip fabricated by one-step glass etching. However, geometric minimization and optimization for practical use are challenging. Here, we report a one-square-millimeter, built-in, all-glass pump controlled by two-way digital gas pressure. The pump consists simply of two joint chambers and a piston between two gas control channels. It does not require pre-perfusion for initialization, and can immediately begin to run when a liquid enters its inlet channel. It is also more reliable than conventional micro pumps for practical use due to its ability to restart after the formation of a blocking bubble, which can serve as a valuable troubleshooting procedure. Its volumetric pump output was 0.5–0.7 nL·s(−1) under a pump head pressure of 300 Pa.