SBIR Phase I: New Heat Flow Sensor Development for High Throughput Microcalorimeters

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will yield a new heat flow or differential temperature sensing technology that will fundamentally improve micro-calorimeters and other instruments that depend on temperature measurement or control. The activity will complete the detailed design and fabrication of a new type of heat flow sensor having 10 to 100 times greater sensitivity than currently available thermopile and Peltier devices. The new "Micro Fabricated Silicon Thermopile Sensor" employing patented technology will be optimized for use in a Differential Scanning Calorimeter designed specifically for the study of biopolymers in dilute solution. A DSC test platform will be constructed for the evaluation of prototype MFST sensors and the performance of the MFST-DSC will be compared to existing Bio-DSC instruments. High-throughput screening approaches are ubiquitous in the pharmaceutical industry as part of the drug discovery process. The new MFST sensor will be critical to the development of high throughput bio-calorimeters with sufficient sensitivity to address applications in drug discovery, diagnostics, cell screening, and other practical health care applications.