NEXTERION® glass substrates

NEXTERION® takes pride in offering a comprehensive array of options tailored to meet your specific needs. From structuring and bonding techniques to a diverse range of thicknesses and dimensions, our products are designed to provide unparalleled flexibility and customization. Additionally, we offer a variety of coating options to enhance performance and functionality, ensuring that every substrate meets the rigorous demands of your application.

High-quality material

The typical glass types used are BOROFLOAT® 33 and D 263® borosilicate glass. These products range in extremely high-quality standards regarding surface finish. In addition to flatness, parallelism, and absence of surface defects, we guarantee a roughness of less than 1 nm. If another type of material is required, we are pleased to evaluate a suitable solution for our customers. All NEXTERION® products are produced in certified cleanroom facilities.

Wide range of thicknesses & dimensions

Our typical thicknesses range from 0.1 mm up to 3.0 mm. In addition to the standard life science geomtries, we offer our customers glass substrates exactly customized to their special application. Custom-sized products can be produced in rectangular, square or round formats.

Structuring, pre-scoring, marking and bonding cababilities

We can offer customers the opportunity to customize their substrates with markings on or within the glass surface. To fulfill the demand of very small substrates, we offer standard-sized substrates pre-scored into the final chip size. With the ability to structure and bond our glass materials we materials, we can even manufacturer glass microfluidic chips. We are pleased to support you with tailor-made solutions.

Diverse coating options

Applying thin-film coatings to glass substrates is one of our core competences. Beside a variety of standard coatings to immobilize biomolecules, the application of custom coatings, organic as well inorganic, can be offered.

Structuring and bonding

SCHOTT MINIFAB has an innovative portfolio of structured glass substrates, produced in-house, that offers highly accurate and versatile features. Using an ultra-short pulse laser technology, structuring design can be tailor to exact specifications.

Also available is a unique pre-scoring process, which enables small chip sizes. Standard sized glass substrates get pre-scored in the required chip size for further processing into a larger format and then separated into the final format at the end of processing chain.

Substrates can be delivered in the pre-scored version and separated for our customers.

General structuring

Parameters for BOROFLOAT® 33, D 263®:

• Thickness range: 0.1 - 3.0 mm
• Maximum Format: 200 mm
• Min. structuring radius: 150 µm

(Other materials upon request)

Pre-Scoring

Parameters:

• Standard formats: Wafer 148 x 148 mm, Microtiter plate 110 x 74 mm, Slide 75.6 x 25 mm
• Edge roughness Ra: < 1 µm
• Min. chip size: 20 µm (theoretical), strongly depending on thickness

(Customized formats upon request)

In addition we offer bonded products combining glass/glass or glass/tape materials used in applications which require a structuring inside the substrate or chip. Bonded substrates are especially interesting for microfluidic applications like NGS, molecular diagnostics and life science research.

Tape Bonding

Parameters:

• Inlet / Outlet hole diameter: < 500 µm
• Channel width: 200 µm
• Channel depth: 45 - 80 µm
• Distance between structures: up to 200 µm

Fusion-Bonding

Interposer Channel:

• Inlet / Outlet hole diameter: 0.5 - 2 mm
• Taper angle hole: < 3 °
• Channel width: > 500 µm
• Channel depth: 0.1 - 2.25 mm
• Channel length: < 130 mm
• Taper angle channel: < 3 °
• Distance between structures: > 1 mm
• Distance edge to channel: > 5 mm

Laser-abiated Channel:

• Inlet / Outlet hole diameter: 0.5 - 2 mm
• Taper angle hole: < 3 °
• Channel width: > 20 µm
• Channel depth: 10 - 100 µm
• Channel length: < 42 mm
• Taper angle channel: 70 °
• Distance between structures: 20 µm
• Distance edge to channel: > 5 mm

Coating

SCHOTT MINIFAB has in-house capabilities for a variety of functional coatings.

Coating methods:

• Dip coating
• Chemical vapor deposition (CVD)
• Sputter deposition
• Solvent-based reactor method
• Spin coating

Beside standard functional coatings, scale manufacture of customer-developed coatings can be offered.

Coating options and probe types:

• Oligonucleotides: Aminosilane, Epoxysilane, 3-D Hydrogel, 3-D Polymer, Poly-L-Lysine
• cDNA / PCR: Aminosilane, Epoxysilane, Aldehydesilane, Poly-L-Lysine
• Peptides: Epoxysilane, Aldehydesilane
• Proteins: 3-D Hydrogel, 3-D Polymer
• Antibodies: Epoxysilane, Aldehydesilane, 3-D Hydrogel, 3-D Polymer
• Glycans: 3-D Hydrogel, 3-D Polymer
• Cells / Tissues: Depending on type of cell / tissue, please contact us for support and free-of-charge evaluation samples
• Biotin modified molecules: Streptavidin
• Bacterial artificial chromosomes (BAC): Aminosilane, Epoxysilane, Aldehydesilane, Poly-L-Lysine
• P1 artificial chromosomes (PAC): Aminosilane, Epoxysilane, Poly-L-Lysine
• Yeast artificial chromosomes (YAC): Aminosilane, Epoxysilane, Aldehydesilane, Poly-L-Lysine

SCHOTT MINIFAB also offers microarray printing expertise.

Material and dimensions

Comparison of SCHOTT MINIFAB standard glass substrate properties:

BOROFLOAT® 33 vs D 263®

Mechanical properties:

• Density (annealed at 40 °C/h): 2.20 g/cm³ (BOROFLOAT® 33), 2.51 g/cm³ (D 263®)

Thermal properties:

• Coefficient of thermal expansion CTE α (20-300 °C): 3.25 × 10⁻⁶/K (BOROFLOAT® 33), 7.20 × 10⁻⁶/K (D 263®)
• Transformation temperature Tg: 525 °C (BOROFLOAT® 33), 557 °C (D 263®)

Optical properties:

• Refractive index (thickness = 0.70 mm): ցe 1.47311 (BOROFLOAT® 33), 1.5255 (D 263®); ցd 1.47140 (BOROFLOAT® 33), 1.5231 (D 263®)
• Abbe value: 55 (both)
• Dispersion ցF-ցC: 71.9 × 10⁻⁴ (BOROFLOAT® 33), 96.0 × 10⁻⁴ (D 263®)
• Transmittance (thickness = 0.30 mm) τ (λ254): < 0.1% (both)
• Transmittance τ (λ380): 91.2% (both)
• Transmittance τ (λ632.8): 92.0% (both)
• Transmittance τ (λ1064): 92.0% (both)
• Luminous transmittance (thickness = 1.1 mm) τ(λvD65): 92.7% (BOROFLOAT® 33), 91.7% (D 263®)
• Stress optical coefficient C: 1.02·10⁻¹² m²/N (BOROFLOAT® 33), 4.0 (D 263®), 3.4 (D 263®)

Chemical properties:

• Hydrolytic resistance (DIN ISO 719): Class HGB 1 - Equivalent of alkali per gram glass grains
• Acid resistance (DIN 12116): Class S 4 - Half surface weight loss after 6 hours
• Alkali resistance (DIN ISO 695): Class A 3 - Surface weight loss after 3 hours

The range of glass thicknesses available is very wide depending on the glass type. Typically used glass substrates (BOROFLOAT® 33 and D263®) are borosilicate glass. Other glass types are possible upon request.

Thicknesses and dimensions

• Side glass: 75.6 x 25.0 mm, 1.0 mm thickness, 25 pieces per pack
• Plate glass: 110.0 x 74.0 mm, 1.0 mm thickness, 5 pieces per pack
• Customized dimensions: up to 200 mm, 0.1 - 3.0 mm thickness, variable pieces per pack

Marking

SCHOTT MINIFAB has in-house capability for laser micromachining of glass. All substrates can be customized with markings including logos, barcodes, fiducial marks and graphics that are robust enough to withstand challenging biomedical laboratory procedures. These markings can be added at any location on or within the glass surface.

Key capabilities include: laser-induced particle transfer, hydrophobic ink, laser ablation, laser-induced internal marking.

Marking parameters and specifications

Barcode type:

• Standard: 1D: Code 128
• Custom: 1D: Code 128 a/b/c; Code 39; 2/5-Family; 2D: QR Code, Data Matrix Code

Graphics & fiducials:

• Resolution: 127 dpi (binary images)
• Line width: 20 µm (vector format)
• Size max.: 40 mm x 40 mm

Barcode & text:

• Height min.: 0.12 mm
• 2D code min.: 1.6 mm (others on request)
• Distance to the edge: min. 1 mm