Nanogen gets US 6,838,053

US 6,838,053, a division of Ser. No. 09/464,670 filed Dec. 15, 1999 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,303,082, was issued on January 4, 2005.

The first claim recites:

A device comprising a plurality of microlocations: wherein the microlocations each comprise an underlying working microelectrode on a substrate, wherein the microelectrode comprises platinum silicide (PtSi), wherein at least some of the microelectrodes are covered by a permeation layer, further wherein at at least one microlocation the permeation layer is covalently attached to the electrode by linker moieties, and wherein the covalent attachment between the electrode and the linker and the permeation layer material is stable at a current density of at least 0.10 nA/.mu.m.sup.2.

The abstract states:

Electronically addressable microchips having covalently bound permeation layers and methods of making such covalently bonded permeation layers to microchips are provided. The covalent bonding is derived from combining the use of electrodes with silane derivatives. Such chemistry provides the ability to apply an electronic bias to the electrodes of the microchip while preventing permeation layer delaminating from the electrode surface.