High surface area coatings are applied to solid substrates to increase the surface area available for solid-phase synthesis of polymers. The high surface area coatings use three-dimensional space to provide more area for functional groups to bind polymers than an untreated solid substrate. The polymers may be oligonucleotides, polypeptides, or another type of polymer. The solid substrate is a rigid supportive layer made from a material such as glass, a silicon material, a metal material, and plastic. The coating may be thin films, hydrogels, microparticles. The coating may be made from a metal oxide, a high-κ dielectric, a low-κ dielectric, an etched metal, a carbon material, or an organic polymer. The functional groups may be hydroxyl groups, amine groups, thiolate groups, alkenes, n-alkenes, alkalines, N-Hydroxysuccinimide (NHS)-activated esters, polyaniline, aminosilane groups, silanized oxides, oligothiophenes, and diazonium compounds. Techniques for applying coatings to solid substrates and attaching functional groups are also disclosed.

A method for making on-flow cell three-dimensional polymer structures includes loading a polymer precursor solution onto a flow cell. The polymer precursor solution includes a monomer, a crosslinker, and a photoinitiator. The flow cell includes at least one channel for receiving the polymer precursor solution. The at least one channel has an upper interior surface and a lower interior surface. The method further includes illuminating the polymer precursor solution through a patterned photomask using a light at a wavelength sufficient to activate the photoinitiator. Activation of the photoinitiator polymerizes at least some of the polymer precursor solution underneath apertures in the patterned photomask and forms three-dimensional polymer structures that extend from the upper interior surface to the lower interior surface of the at least one channel.

A method for patterning flow cell substrates using photo-initiated chemical reactions that includes fabricating a planar waveguide flow cell by forming a layer of light coupling gratings on a glass substrate layer; depositing a core layer on the layer of light coupling gratings; depositing a cladding layer on the core layer; and forming nanowells in the cladding layer; silanizing the cladding layer; coating the silanized cladding layer and nanowells with a first group of reactants; introducing a second group of reactants into the nanowells, wherein the second group of reactants includes a target reactant and a light-sensitive photoinitiator system; coupling a light source to the light coupling gratings and directing light internally within the planar waveguide flow cell for photo-initiating a chemical reaction between the first and second groups of reactants, wherein the photo-initiated chemical reaction covalently binds the target reactant to only the bottom portion of each nanowell.

The present disclosure provides compositions and methods for making and using a support (e.g., a sample slide) for sample analysis. The present disclosure also provides compositions, methods, and systems for processing a sample on the support for use in nucleic acid sequence detection.

An example method includes contacting a substrate coated with a sol-gel material with a stamp that includes a plurality of protruding features. While contacting the coated sol-gel material with the stamp, the example method further includes curing the coated sol-gel material so as to form a patterned sol-gel layer that includes a plurality of wells. The stamp is separated from the patterned sol-gel layer.

A microarray assembly for detection of a target molecule is disclosed. The microarray assemblies comprise an array chamber having a microarray located therein and features that facilitate liquid movement within the array chamber. Also disclosed are methods for making the microarray assembly using rollable films and methods for detecting microarray spots using an internal control fluorophore in the array spot.

In an example method, a first functionalized layer is deposited over a resin layer including multi-depth depressions separated by interstitial regions, each depression including a deep portion and a shallow portion adjacent to the deep portion; a photoresist is deposited over the first functionalized layer; an ultraviolet light dosage is directed, through the resin layer, whereby a first photoresist portion generates an insoluble photoresist and a second photoresist portion becomes a soluble photoresist; the soluble photoresist is removed to expose a portion of the first functionalized layer; the portion of the first functionalized layer is removed to expose a portion of the resin layer; a second functionalized layer is deposited over the insoluble photoresist, and over the exposed portion of the resin layer; the insoluble photoresist is removed to expose the first functionalized layer; and the first functionalized layer or the second functionalized layer is removed from the interstitial regions.

A metal film is formed over a resin layer including a plurality of multi-depth depressions (MDP) separated by interstitial regions, each MDP including a deep portion and an adjacent shallow portion. A sacrificial layer is formed over the metal film. The sacrificial layer and metal film are sequentially dry etched to expose a resin layer surface at the shallow portion and interstitial regions. Resin layer portions are removed i) at the shallow portion to form a depression region having a surface directly adjacent to a surface at the deep portion and ii) at the interstitial regions to form new interstitial regions surrounding the deep portion and the depression region. First functionalized layer is deposited over the metal film, depression region, and new interstitial regions. The metal film is removed from the deep portion. Second functionalized layer is deposited over the surface at the deep portion. New interstitial regions are polished.

The disclosure provides three-dimensional crosslinked polymer networks comprising one or more channels extending from the surface and/or near the surface of the network into the interior of the network, arrays comprising the networks, processes for making the networks, and uses of the networks and arrays.

A chemical synthesis platform based on a particularly simple chip is described herein, where reactions take place atop a hydrophobic substrate patterned with a circular hydrophilic liquid trap. The overall supporting hardware (heater, rotating carousel of reagent dispensers, etc.) can be packaged into a very compact format (about the size of a coffee cup). We demonstrate the consistent synthesis of [.sup.18F]fallypride with high yield, and show that protocols optimized using a high-throughput optimization platform we have developed can be readily translated to this device with no changes or reoptimization.