Gas plasma provides surface conditioning of in vitro diagnostic platforms prior to the deposition of the bio sensor materials. Conditioning may simply be precision cleaning of the substrate at the molecular level, or raising the surface energy to make energy available to chemically bond to the sensor material. However, in vitro diagnostic substrates may require more selective chemistries to immobilize sensor molecules. Specific plasma processes have been developed at PVA TePla for the selective adhesion promotion and conjugation of bio active molecules. This is achieved by providing particular chemical functionality at the surface, allowing covalent coupling of biochemical species to occur. Amino, carboxylic, hydroxyl and epoxy functionalities are important examples of the chemistries that are readily obtainable using gas plasma surface treatment. PVA TePla has recently developed new methods for chemically functionalizing various polymer platforms that outperform traditional plasma techniques in terms of maximizing and controlling functionality. For example we can control the surface concentration of primary amines, achieving up to 18% surface coverage.
