Flat spiral gas chromatography column

Abstract

A flat spiral microfabricated gas chromatography column is formed by etching a spiral channel into a planar substrate and bonding additional substrates to each side thereof. Holes or vias in these substrates form an entrance and an exit to the spiral channel etched in the middle substrate. More than one spiral may be etched into a substrate and more than one entrance and exit may be etched into the top and bottom substrates to provide an entrance and an exit to the spiral channel. The spiral channel may have an etched width that is wider than the substrate is thick. In this fashion, a high aspect ratio column is formed with the channel width defining the long dimension of the high aspect ratio column and the thickness of the substrate defining the short dimension of the high aspect ratio column.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.