Flexible microassembly methods for micro/nanofluidic chips with an inverted microscope

One method of fabricating micro/nanofluidic chips is to form microchannels and nanochannels in different plates and then assemble them together. In this paper, two practicable methods for the assembly of the micro/nanofluidic chips were built up. One was the rotating-then-pushing method (RP) and the other was the picking-up-then-placing-down method (PP). Only an inverted microscope and a few mechanical parts were needed. With the well-assembled chips, the experiments of enrichment and micro/nano-flow were conducted. Relevant devices, processes, and characteristics were presented in detail. These flexible assembly methods present the advantages such as low-cost, flexibility, and interchangeability.