Author Date

2026-03-16

Degree Name

Department

Electrical and Computer Engineering

College

Ira A. Fulton College of Engineering

Defense Date

2026-03-12

Publication Date

2026-03-16

First Faculty Advisor

Aaron R. Hawkins

First Faculty Reader

William Pitt

Honors Coordinator

Karl Warnick

Keywords

nanopore, dewetting, diagnostics, SU-8, micromachining, photoresist

Abstract

This study is part of an ongoing project to create a universal diagnostic tool using nanopore technology. Diagnosis of disease and other conditions of the body can often be linked to biomarkers such as the RNA sequence of a disease-causing virus.

The nanopore method for detecting biomarkers requires a microfluidic device designed to concentrate a large quantity of biomarker carrier beads near the detecting nanopore. Hollow channels which can conduct fluid and small particles are well used in the field of microfluidics. Many methods exist to fabricate microfluidic channels, however the nanopore method requires a channel with a thin solid-state membrane. Aaron Hawkins, his colleagues, and student researchers have previously developed a method to form hollow channels with a thin solid-state SiO₂ membrane using a liquid photoresist sacrificial core as a template. The fabrication process for the sacrificial core method is currently a serial process and unsuitable for mass production in a foundry.

Usually, dewetting is an undesired phenomenon when performing photolithography. However, this thesis reports a new method of fabricating thin solid-state SiO₂membranes over hollow channels etched into silicon using dewetting. The new method uses SU-8 photoresist dewetting to fill channels with a sacrificial core material and variables that affect successful sacrificial core formation using the dewetting method are reported. This new fabrication method offers significant advantages over current capillary flow and etch-back fabrication methods because it is a parallel process suitable for mass production. Fully intact membranes have been formed using this method; however, the process still needs to be refined to maximize yield.