Batch fabrication of high-performance planar patch-clamp devices in quartz.

We report here on a batch microfabrication approach for producing ultra-smooth, high-aspect ratio structures in silicon dioxide and quartz fi lms, and we apply that method towards the construction of planar-patch clamp electrophysiology devices that, for the fi rst time, achieve the performance metrics of the very best micropipette-based patch-clamp approaches. The patch-clamp method has been a powerful technique for elucidating ion channel protein biophysics and for assisting drug discovery, since its invention by Neher and Sakmann. [ 1 ]