Microfluidic System Having Monolithic Nanoplasmonic Structures

A process of producing a patterned polymeric substrate comprising:

• etching one or more ordered patterns onto a hard substrate, the ordered patterns comprising ordered arrays of nano-scale elements having cross-sectional dimensions in a range of from 10 nm to 1000 nm, the arrays having a spacing distance between their respective elements where cross-sectional dimension to spacing distance ratio is greater than 0.2;
• micro-patterning a polymeric film to form a membrane comprising a first surface bearing a pattern of micro-scale and/or meso-scale features for defining one or more channels and/or chambers, one or more of the micro-scale and/or meso-scale features comprising through-holes;
• placing the membrane on the hard substrate with a surface opposite the first surface against the hard substrate, the through-holes aligned to expose the one or more ordered patterns, and applying pressure sufficient to seal lips of the membrane surrounding the through-holes against the hard substrate;
• placing a settable liquid polymer or metal in the through-holes and over the first surface and setting the settable liquid polymer or metal to form a stamp, the stamp comprising micro-scale and/or meso-scale reliefs for defining one or more channels and/or microfluidic chambers and further comprising one or more nano-scale relief patterns on the micro-scale and/or meso-scale reliefs that complement the one or more ordered patterns;
• and,
• patterning a polymeric substrate by stamping the polymeric substrate with the stamp to form the one or more channels and/or microfluidic chambers in the polymeric substrate, the polymeric substrate comprising one or more surfaces having one or more ordered patterns that are substantially identical to the one or more ordered patterns etched onto the hard substrate, the one or more ordered patterns in the polymeric substrate suitable for plasmonic resonance reading of a fluid within the one or more channels and/or chambers.