Low temperature bonding of glass on silicon compounds for biomedical applications

In order to obtain sealed microreactors for analytical systems, the low temperature bonding of the borosilicate glass over a silicon nitride layer has been investigated. The adhesion behaviour of sodium silicate, of potassium silicate as well as of an urethan-based solution has been studied. The wide surface and small surface bonding specific problems are revealed. The effect of the concentration of the soluble silicates on the bonding quality is experimentally analysed, by means of optical microscopy and AFM measurements. A surface study has been performed in terms of surface energy components and the interfacial tensions have been calculated. The contact angle method has been used in order to obtain the surface energy components.