Microtrap electrode devices for single cell trapping and impedance measurement

This paper reports the design and fabrication of electrode microtraps for single cell trapping and impedance measurement. In this work, the microtrap electrodes of parallel and elliptical geometry have been fabricated by electroplating of gold electrodes of optimum thickness. This has enabled the formation of electrode traps without requiring any precision alignment between separate insulating traps like PDMS and the bottom gold electrodes. Further the improved uniformity of the electric field between the trapping electrodes as observed from COVENTORWARE simulation significantly reduces the effect of cell position inside the microwell on the electrical measurement unlike previous reports. This makes it possible to directly extract the equivalent cell parameters from the electrical measurement without introducing any correction factor corresponding to cell position. We have performed impedance spectroscopy with both the microwell electrode structures with single HeLa cell at two different positions of trapping. It has been observed that there is almost no change in the extracted values of cell resistance and capacitance for different positions within parallel electrodes and there is only 0.7 % and 0.85 % change in cell resistance and capacitance for the two positions within elliptical electrodes. Thus these microwell electrode structures can be used as an improved and a more convenient platform for single cell electrical characterization.