ET225 Electrophoresis
Platform
User Manual
Version 1.03 March 2012T.
+61 2 9807 8855
F.
+61 2 9807 8844
E.
info@edaq.com
www.edaq.com© 2010 eDAQ Pty Ltd.
All rights reserved.

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ET225 User Manual EDID-00461-madContents
Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. 3
System Description ....................................................................................................................................... 3
Exploded View............................................................................................................................................... 4
Assembly ....................................................................................................................................................... 5
HV Connections ............................................................................................................................................. 7
Micronit Chip Specification ........................................................................................................................... 8

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ET225 User Manual EDID-00461-madET225 C4D MicroChip Electrophoresis Platform
Introduction
The ET255 platform was designed to allow standard 45mm and 90mm Microchips manufactured by:Micronit Microfluidics (see information at the end of this document) to be used as a complete microchip
based Electrophoresis system.
The complete ER255 (and ER455) system is composed of the following elements:
ER225 C4D System that provides the excitation and signal acquisition components of the system.
ER230 HV Sequencer that provides the HV necessary for the Electrophoresis function
ET225 the mechanical platform (adapter) that provides the required facilities to load samples and acquire thedata generated.
ET145-4 Four 45mm borosilicate glass TYPE T35100C4D microchips
EC 20 Standard test solutions.
Disclaimer: This system is supplied as a research grade instrument and eDAQ does not claim that this system
is suitable for any particular Electrophoresis application. The user takes full responsibility for the design ofexperiments and the interpretation of the resulting data.

System Description
A fully wired ET225 system is shown below, it consists of:Five (5) Multicoloured HVcables
Interface cable
Safety Interlock cable
Ground pin

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ET225 User Manual EDID-00461-madAn exploded view of the system is shown below:

Exploded View

Top Cover

Cover Plate

MicroChip

Bottom Plate

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ET225 User Manual EDID-00461-madAssembly
CAUTION: Microchips are constructed from glass and should therefore be handled very carefully to prevent
breakages. Warranty does not apply to broken or used microchips. Microchips are delivered in a shock proof
container.
Step 1 Connect Interface cable and Safety interlock cables.
Step 2 Fit ET145 Microchip as shown – ensure that the chip is mounted correctly.

This interlock “Key” has asmall flat which should befacing downrard wheninserting the key in theinterlock position. Theinterlock Key should be fully
inserted otherwise it will notoperate correctly.

Step 3 Check that the O-rings are in place before fitting the cover plate – spare O-rings are provided

Step 4 Carefully fit the cover plate using the knurled bolts.
These bolts should be tightened evenly and in turn and should not be over tightened since this WILL
damage the microchips.
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ET225 User Manual EDID-00461-madLight finger pressure on the bolts is sufficient to create a good seal between the O-rings and the chip.

The diagram below (NOT TO SCALE) shows diagrammatically the fluid circuit from the Filling well to themicrochip fluid channel. The O- ring represents the only contact between the microchip and the cover plate.

Filling Well

O-ringCoverPlate

MicroChip

Bottom Plate

The top cover should now be located, a weak magnetic attraction is provided to keep the Top cover in place
and a magnet located in the Top cover over the safety interlock causes the safety switch to be closed thus
enabling the safe application of high voltages to the system.

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ET225 User Manual EDID-00461-madHV Connections
The Microchip wells are numbered 1 to 4 and since the system is symmetrical different arrangements will
provide similar results however it is good practice to set a standard connection configuration and stick to it inorder to ensure consistency.
Typically the following HV connections will be made as shown in the diagram below
SAMPLE PORT (1): This will have a high voltage applied during the injection or loading phase and then a HiZ
mode during the Separation phase.
CONNECT BLUE cable to Output 1
BUFFER PORTINJECTION Cycle HIZ mode
SEPARATION Cycle
Voltage Mode @2500V for 300 sec

SAMPLE PORTINJECTION Cycle Voltage Mode @800V
SEPARATION Cycle Hi Z mode

BUFFER WASTE PortINJECTION Cycle HiZ mode
SEPARATION Cycle S/C mode

412SAMPLE WASTE PORTINJECTION Cycle S/C Mode for 180sec
SEPARATION Cycle Hi Z mode

3

BUFFER PORT (2) Hi Z during injection and a Hi Voltage during separation phase.
Connect RED cable to Output 2
SAMPLE WASTE PORT (3) S/C during injection and HiZ during separation phase.
Connect YELLOW cable to Meter 1
BUFFER WASTE PORT (4) HiZ during Injection and S/C during separation phase.
Connect BLACK cable to Meter 2
Note 1: Two BLACK Cables are provided – Number 4 is used with 45mm microchips and Number 5 is usedwith 90mm microchips.
Note 2: the detection electronics can be fitted either in the 45mm position or the 90mm position. If bothtypes of microchips will be used routinely then duplicate the detection electronics

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ET225 User Manual EDID-00461-madMicronit chip cleaning procedure

Page 8ET225 User Manual EDID-00461-madMicronit Chip Specification
See next Page

Page 9ET225 User Manual EDID-00461-mad

Specification document T35100C4D chip
Chip:
Material: D263 T borosilicate glass
Chip size (w x h): 15.0 x 45.0 +/- 0.3 mm
Thickness: 1.1 +/- 0.050 mm cover and 0.100 +/- 0.015 mm bottom
On-chip reservoir volume: <1 µL
wChannels:
Width: 100 +/- 5 µm
Depth: 10.0 +/- 0.5 µm
Length of the double-T: 100 µm between center lines
Channel length (2-4): 40mm
Separation length: 33mm
Cross Arm length: 9mm

dElectrodes:
Material: platinum, tantalum adhesion layer deposited on the bottom surface
Electrode thickness: 200 nm
Size (wxh): 200 x 500 µm
Distance between excitation and detection electrode: 250 µm
Distance between electrode pairs: 2.9 mm

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ET225 User Manual EDID-00461-mad