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Collision of a Field-Driven Polymer with a Post: Implications for Electrophoresis in Microlithographic Arrays

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 February 2011

E. M. Sevick
Affiliation:
Research School of Chemistry, The Australian National University, Canberra ACT 0200AUSTRALIA, [email protected]
D.R.M. Williams
Affiliation:
Research School of Physical Sciences & Engineering, The Australian National University, Canberra ACT 0200AUSTRALIA, [email protected]
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Abstract

We study the simplest model of a polyelectrolyte impinging upon a point, frictionless obstacle in the presence of a field. Using numerical simulation, we show that the wide range of impacts, ranging from direct impact forming a long-lived hairpin conformation, to glancing impacts where the chain slides off of the obstacle in short time, can be described universally. In strong field, the average collision time, 〈tc〉, and average distance traveled during collision, 〈zc〉, depend upon the impact and follow universal curves over a large range of molecular weights and field strengths. This result provides analytic formulas for the chain's mobility in an array of posts and yields insight into the effect of post spacing.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1997

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