Duke University – TechConnect Briefs

Amplified On-Chip Fluorescent and Colorimetric Detection of DNA and RNA Hybridization by Surface-Initiated Enzymatic Polymerization

Chilkoti A., Hucknall A., Tjong V., Yu H., Duke University, US

We present a new on-chip, isothermal signal amplification technique for direct detection of unmodified DNA and RNA on microarrays using terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase (TdT), a template-independent DNA polymerase that catalyzes the sequential addition of deoxynucleotides [...]

Surface plasmon polariton assisted organic solar cells

Kim C., Kim J., Lee J-Y, Peumans P., Duke University, US

A fundamental limitation of organic photovoltaic (OPV) cells is due to the trade-off between light absorption and exciton diffusion. We show that light absorption in an OPV cell can be enhanced by replacing a conventional [...]

Probabilistic Models for Damage and Self-repair in DNA Self-Assembly

Majumder U., Duke University, US

DNA self-assembly is the autonomous phenomenon where components (single strands or structures made of DNA single strands organize themselves into stable superstructures. Since its inception the focus of DNA self-assembly based nanostructures has mostly been [...]

Surface plasmon polariton assisted organic solar cells

Kim C., Kim J., Lee J-Y, Peumans P., Duke University, US

A fundamental limitation of organic photovoltaic (OPV) cells is due to the trade-off between light absorption and exciton diffusion. We show that light absorption in an OPV cell can be enhanced by replacing a conventional [...]

Increasing the Thermal Stability of Self-Assembling DNA Nanostructures by Incorporation of isoG/isoC Base Pairs

Ho K., LaBean T.H., Li H., Prudent J.R., Roesch E.B., Sherrill C.B., Duke University, US

Self-assembling DNA nanostructures are currently being developed for a variety of applications in nanofabrication and molecular computing. For many uses, these nanostructures would benefit from increased thermal stability. However, increasing the lengths of sticky-ends that [...]

A Novel Electrochemical Nitric Oxide Sensor: Aligned RuO2 Nanowires Deposited on Pt filament

Allen B.W., Liu J., Piantadosi C.A., Wang C.Y., Duke University, US

We fabricated a novel electrochemical NO sensor by depositing aligned ruthenium oxide (RuO2) nanowires on a fine Pt filament. This device exhibited a high current density and a low detection limit for NO in aqueous [...]

Mechanical Property Measurement of Thin-film Gold Using Thermally Actuated Bimetallic Cantilever Beams

Fair R.B., Jog A., Pamula V.K., Duke University, US

We describe a method for estimating the Young's modulus of thin-film gold deposited on the poly2 layer in the MUMPS process is described. An optical detection system employing position sensitive detectors (PSD) is built to [...]

Reconfigurable Microfluidic System Architecture Based on Two-Dimensional Electrowetting Arrays

Chakrabarty K., Ding J., Fair R.B., Duke University, US

We present an architectural design and optimization methodology for performing biochemical reactions using two-dimensional electrowetting arrays. We define a set of basic microfluidic operations and leverage electronic design automation principles for system partitioning, resource allocation, [...]

Statistical Optimal Design of Microelectromechanical Systems (MEMS)

Fair R.B., Jog A., Ren H., Duke University, US

A three-step technique for MEMS quality optimization is demonstrated. It exploits the relative merits of its constituent optimization components. Analog Devices' ADXL50 accelerometer was the test device with microstructure dimen-sions serving as design parameters. Manufacturing [...]

Design of Reconfigurable Composite Microsystems Based on Hardware/Software Co-design Principles

Chakrabarty K., Fair R.B., Zhang T., Duke University, US

Custom microsystems are expensive, inflexible, and unsuitable for high-volume production. We address this problem by leveraging hardware/software co-design principles to design reconfigurable composite microsystems. We partition the system design parameters into nonreconfigurable and reconfigurable categories. [...]