Patent ID: 7879301

Claim:
A microfluidic element comprising: a micro flow path formed in a substrate for carrying a liquid as a fluid; a liquid chamber connected to the micro flow path; a heater unit provided in the liquid chamber to heat the liquid; and a voltage applying unit connected to the heater unit, wherein the liquid chamber and the heater unit are configured to raise a temperature of the liquid to 374° C. or more, and to increase a pressure of the liquid to 22 MPa or more, wherein the voltage applying unit is configured to apply to the heater unit a voltage pulse with a pulse width t 0 represented by t0<((2AShd0)/Δ P ) 0.5 , where A represents an inertance of the micro flow path for the heating unit, Sh represents an area of the heating unit, d 0 represents a fluid movement allowance and is 1 μm, ΔP represents a pressure difference and is 22 MPa, and A is represented by ρL/S, where ρ represents a density of the liquid, L represents a length of the micro flow path, and S represents a cross-sectional area of the micro flow path, and wherein the heater unit is configured to force the liquid in the liquid chamber into a supercritical state repeatedly in a vicinity of a surface of the heater unit without forming any bubbles due to inertance of the liquid causing difficulty of movement of the liquid.