Lab-on-a-chip devices fabricated using flame hydrolysis deposited glass

Flame hydrolysis deposition (FHD) of glasses has previously found applications in the telecommunications industry. We now demonstrate how the technique can be used to deposit silica with different reactive indices and thereby produce low-loss planar waveguides for use in analytical applications. We also show that the glasses can be patterned using a new reactive ion etch, and sealed using a modification of anodic bonding, such that the resulting microstructures can be readily incorporated within a lithographically defined `chip´, integrating both optical and fluidic circuitry on the same device