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US 11,307,194 B2Granted
Systems and methods for analyzing liquids
AssigneeUniversity of South Florida
InventorsAnna Pyayt, Edikan Archibong, Harry Tuazon
Life of this patent
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Abstract
In one embodiment, an optical spectroscopy probe includes an optical fiber having a distal tip and a microfluidic filtering chamber attached to the distal tip of the optical fiber, the chamber comprising a microfluidic membrane adapted to enable liquid to enter the chamber but prevent particles from entering the chamber.
Claims19
An optical spectroscopy probe comprising:
- an optical fiber having a distal tip;
- and
- a microfluidic filtering chamber,
- wherein the microfluidic filtering chamber is defined by sidewalls defined in a silicon substrate and silicon nitride thin-films capping the side walls and forming a top and a bottom of the microfluidic filtering chamber, the side walls and the silicon nitride thin-films enclosing a hollow inner space of the chamber configured to receive a liquid to be analyzed,
- wherein at least one of the silicon nitride thin-films comprises a plurality of pores that allow liquid to enter the hollow inner space but prevent particles larger than the pores from entering the hollow inner space,
- wherein the silicon nitride thin-films include a proximal thin-film that is in contact with the optical fiber and a distal thin-film that is distant from the optical fiber.
3 more elements
An optical spectroscopy probe comprising:
- an optical fiber having a distal tip;
- and
- a microfluidic filtering chamber comprising a proximal thin-film layer that is in contact with the distal tip of the fiber and that is made of silicon nitride, a distal thin-film layer made of silicon nitride, and one or more side walls that are made of silicon and that extend between and are limited in extent by the proximal thin-film layer and the distal thin-film layer,
- wherein the proximal thin-film layer, distal thin-film layer, and said one or more side walls define and enclose a hollow inner space of the chamber configured to receive a liquid to be analyzed,
- wherein the proximal thin-film layer has an opening in which the distal tip of the optical fiber is received,
- wherein at least one of the proximal thin-film layer, and the distal thin-film layer, comprises a plurality of pores that allow the liquid to enter the hollow inner space but prevent particles larger than the pores from entering the hollow inner space.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.