Fabrication of microchannel with 60 electrodes and resistance measurement

The present study describes the fabrication of a novel microchannel with 60 electrodes and the electrical resistance measurement in different flow types in the microchannel system. This microchannel is designed for ERT application, which has five measurement cross sections and embeds 12 electrodes in each cross section. The microchannel has been successfully fabricated by MEMS processes which are comprised of photolithography of platinum wire on quartz glass layers, compression to fabricate the electrode layers, and micro mechanical processing for the flow groove. After the microchannel fabrication, the connector is constructed in order to avoid unstable measurement condition between the microchannel electrodes and the resistance measurement system. The electrical resistances between the electrode pairs of the microchannel were measured in the case of tap water, particle flow and the separately injected tap water plus particle flow. The electrical resistances are reasonably and stably measured in the microchannel.