Length-dependent recoil separation of long molecules
AssigneeCornell Research Foundation, Inc.
InventorsHarold G. Craighead, Stephen W. Turner
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Separation of long molecules by length is obtained by forcing such molecules to traverse a boundary between a low free-energy region and a high free-energy region. In one embodiment, the high free-energy region is a dense pillar region or other structure formed on a semiconductor substrate. One or more membranes are used in further embodiments. The low free-energy region is a larger chamber formed adjacent the high free-energy region. A recoil phase allows longer molecules not fully driven into the high free-energy region to recoil into the low free-energy region. In a further variation, the high free-energy region is a membrane having nanoscale holes.
Claims27
A method of separating molecules by length, the method comprising:
- applying force to move molecules from a region of low free-energy into a region of high free-energy;
- and
- removing the force to cause molecules not entirely within the region of high free-energy to extract themselves back into the region of low free-energy.
A method of separating molecules by length, the method comprising:
- forcing molecules to a boundary between a region of high entropy and a region of low entropy;
- applying high field pulse to drive molecules into the low entropy region;
- and
- allowing molecules not driven entirely within the low entropy region to recoil into the high entropy region.
A separator for separating molecules of varying length, the separator comprising:
- a high entropy region;
- a low entropy region having an entropic barrier between the high entropy region and the low entropy region;
- and
- a field generator that generates a pulse of entropic force greater than the entropic barrier to drive shorter molecules entirely into the low entropic region while longer molecules are only partially driven into the low entropic region.
A method of separating molecules by length, the method comprising:
- applying force to move molecules from a region of low free-energy into a region of high free-energy;
- and
- applying a retrograde force to cause molecules still partially within the low free-energy region to extract themselves back into the region of low free-energy.
A separator for separating molecules of varying length, the separator comprising:
- a plurality of high free-energy regions;
- a plurality of low free-energy regions juxtaposed between the high free-energy regions;
- and
- a force generator that generates a pulse of force to drive molecules into the high free-energy regions.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.