Microfluidics - Translume

Custom Microfluidic Chips / Custom Flow Cells

Translume has years of experience fabricating a wide array of customer-designed microfluidic chips and flow cells. If you’re looking for high-precision machining of fused silica microfluidic components, don’t look any further. We will provide you with the best micro-machining solution, as we have done so for the past 20+ years for hundreds of extremely satisfied customers.

Our fused silica glass custom Microfluidic Chips and Custom Flow Cells are:

Transparent from the deep ultraviolet through the near-infrared
Extremely low fluorescence. Fused silica is clearly the best material for fluorescence studies, as its auto-fluorescence is orders of magnitude weaker than that of all other glasses and polymers.
Compatible with all liquids (except for HF, and hot KOH).

Arbitrary Channel Geometry:

Our standard glass chips have microfluidic channels with nearly perfect rectangular (or square) cross-sections. However we can fabricate microfluidic channels with any arbitrary shape if you so desire.

Flow Control:

We have the expertise to fabricate microfluidic channels that are tapered (tapered width and/or tapered depth), or that integrate flow restrictions and/or nozzles, including 3D nozzles.

Optimized External Geometry:

Our standard chips are 2” long x 1” wide. However we can provide chips of any size, from the very small (just a few millimeters squared) up to 2” x 3.8”. The overall shape does not have to be rectangular – we often fabricate chips that have a rounded geometry.

Multi-layers Fused Construction:

Our standard microfluidic chips are made of 2 fused silica glass layers, and our standard flow cells are made of 3 fused silica glass layers; but we can work with up to 8 layers if your design requires it. The layers are thermally bonded to provide the utmost in rigid and chemical compatibility.

Cost-effective, Endless-reuse, Eco-Friendly Material:

Eco-Friendly Origins: Fused Silica Glass is crafted from natural, abundant sand, whereas most plastic chips rely on petroleum-based polymers.
True Multi-Use Durability: Unlike plastic chips that degrade or absorb molecules over time, glass is chemically inert and mechanically robust, allowing for endless reuse without loss of precision.
Stop the "Throw-Away" Cycle: Most plastic microfluidics are designed for single-use disposal. Glass chips are an investment in a circular lab economy—they are built to be cleaned, sterilized, and put back to work, not thrown into a landfill.
Zero Microplastics: By choosing glass, you eliminate the risk of microplastic shedding into your samples or the environment, ensuring both data purity and ecological safety.
Superior Performance: Fused Silica Glass withstands high temperatures and harsh solvents that would melt or warp plastic, making it the responsible choice for complex, long-term research.