Patent ID: 8440454

Claim:
An apparatus for thermal cycling samples, the apparatus comprising: a sample retaining element comprising a first surface for receiving a sample containment structure, a second surface opposing the first surface, and a substantially flat edge surface, wherein the first surface provides a plurality of sample wells, and wherein the substantially flat edge surface is a third surface located between the first surface and the second surface, and wherein the sample containment structure provides containment for a plurality of samples; and an edge heater coupled to the substantially flat edge surface of the sample retaining element, said edge heater adapted to reduce the temperature non-uniformity (TNU) of the sample retaining element; wherein the TNU of the sample retaining element is between about 0.25° C. to about 0.50° C. within between about 5 seconds to about 10 seconds of achieving a sample retaining element temperature of about 95° C.