Patent ID: 8303789

Claim:
A method for controlling an electrolyte solution in a nanofluidic channel comprising: providing a plurality of nanofluidic channels in a substrate, wherein each nanofluidic channel comprises an insulating surface layer such that an electrolyte solution in the nanofluidic channel is insulated from the substrate; configuring a multi-gate nanofluidic field-effect-transistor (FET) having a plurality of FET gates formed in the substrate, wherein the plurality of FET gates are spaced along a length direction of each nanofluidic channel with each FET gate surrounding the nanofluidic channel; applying an electric potential V EO to a length of the electrolyte solution in each nanofluidic channel to generate an electroosmotic (EO) flow of the electrolyte solution along the nanofluidic channel; wherein the electrolyte solution comprises a plurality of charged species; and applying a gate electric potential V G to each FET gate to generate a leakage current to change at least one of a direction of the EO flow and a speed of the EO flow.