Chips & Tips
Welcome to Chips & Tips - a unique and regularly updated forum for scientists in the miniaturisation field. Chips & Tips aims to provide a place where ideas and solutions can be exchanged on common practical problems encountered in the lab, which are seldom reported in the literature.
Do you
. have problems with bubble formation when injecting your sample?
. wish there was a quicker way to make prototypes?
. find connecting chips to pumps and syringes problematic?
Or
. do you have your own tricks to overcome these or similar problems?
If so, then Chips & Tips is the forum to address your requirements.
Read the tips below or see the author guidelines on how to submit your own today!
David Beebe and Glenn Walker

Chips & Tips: Profile measurement for microstructures made in hard material
22 October 2008
Jie Xu and Daniel Attinger explain a method for profile measurement for microstructures made in hard material

Chips & Tips: Reusable, robust NanoPort connections to PDMS chips
08 October 2008
Jesse Greener and colleagues describe how to make reusable, robust NanoPort connections to PDMS chips

Chips & Tips: Rapid prototyping of a PMMA microfluidic chip with integrated platinum electrodes
18 September 2008
Martin Arundell and co-workers report a method for rapid prototyping of PMMA microfluidic chips with integrated platinum electrodes

Chips & Tips: Bonding & Sealing of components in PDMS by deposition of micro-drops of PDMS using micropipette
09 September 2008
Arash Noori and P. Ravi Selvaganapathy describe a method for bonding and sealing of components in PDMS

Chips & Tips: Lamination of Plastic Microfluidic Devices
30 July 2008
Daniel Olivero and Z. Hugh Fan present a simple method for lamination of plastic microfluidic devices

Chips & Tips: Quick Measurement of Electroosmotic Flow Velocity
10 July 2008
Motohiko Nohmi and Juan Santiago present a simple way of estimating electroosmotic flow velocities in channel geometries with at least one intersection.

Chips & Tips: See where to punch holes easily in a PDMS microfluidic device
29 May 2008
Amy Rowat and David Weitz describe how to see where to punch holes in a PDMS microfluidic device.

Chips & Tips: Integrated Reservoirs for PDMS Microfluidic Chips
22 April 2008
T. Liu and co-workers present integrated reservoirs for PDMS microfluidic chips.

Chips & Tips: An easy temperature control system for syringe pumps
22 April 2008
Lorenzo Capretto and co-workers describe an easy temperature control system for syringe pumps.

Chips & Tips: Microfabrication Design Guidelines for Glass Micro- and Nano-fluidic Devices
18 April 2008
Dave Huber and Sumita Pennathur give some useful microfabrication design guidelines for glass micro- and nano-fluidic devices.

Chips & Tips: Bonding Upchurch® NanoPorts to PDMS
12 February 2008
Corey Koch and co-workers describe a simple method to bond Upchurch® NanoPortsT to PDMS chips.

Chips & Tips: Magnets for facile molding of via holes in PDMS
06 February 2008
Corey Koch and co-workers describe the use of magnetic molds for construction of complex PDMS devices

Chips & Tips: A foolproof method for enclosing glass-based LOC devices for electrophoresis
16 January 2008
Colin Mansfield and co-workers describe a simple method to produce a leak free and easily reusible device for electrophoresis.

Chips & Tips: Organic Solvent Compatible Reservoirs for Glass Microfluidic Chips
06 December 2007
Michael Watson and Aaron Wheeler describe an alternative to using non-solvent resistant adhesives to attach reservoirs to microfludic chips.

Chips & Tips: Preventing suspension settling during injection
21 August 2007
Ryan Cooper and Luke Lee describe how to avoid settling of suspensions during injection onto a chip.

Chips & Tips: Quick and cheap syringe-tubing interfacing
26 June 2007
Rodrigo Martinez-Duarte and Marc Madou describe a simple method to connect syringes to chips.

Chips & Tips: On-chip Electrophoresis Devices: Do's, Don'ts and Dooms
26 March 2007
Juan Santiago and co-workers provide some simple rules of thumb for success in on-chip electrophoresis

Chips & Tips: Rapid Prototyping of microfluidics
15 February 2007
Richard Holmes and Nicholas Goddard describe rapid prototyping of microfluidic systems using double sided tape.

Chips & Tips: Superior data presentation of poor quality microfluidics images
05 February 2007
Richard Holmes and Nicholas Goddard describe a simple method to manipulate video images of microfluidics for presentation in print.

Chips & Tips: In-line microfluidic bubble trap
22 November 2006
David Eddington presents a simple in-line bubble trap for microfluidic devices.

Chips & Tips: A simple interface between a PDMS microfluidic device and a syringe
13 November 2006
Jeonggi Seo and Meng H. Lean present a simple way to connect a syringe to your microfluidic device without the need for adhesive.

Chips & Tips: Vacuum filling of microfluidic devices
23 October 2006
Ivar Meyvantsson and David Beebe provide a simple method to remove bubbles when filling microfluidic chips.

Chips & Tips: Avoiding bubble injection by droplet merging
23 October 2006
Edmond Young, Aaron Wheeler and Craig Simmons present an easy way to avoid injecting bubbles along with your sample.

Chips & Tips: PDMS connectors for macro to microfluidic interfacing
23 October 2006
Swomitra Mohanty, Glennys Mensing and David Beebe report a simple fabrication of PDMS connectors to interface chips with the macro world.

