Main Applications of Capillary Quartz Tubes

Capillary quartz tubes play an irreplaceable role in many high-tech and precision industrial fields due to their unique properties. Their primary applications can be summarized into the following core areas:

1. Analytical Chemistry and Life Sciences (The Most Extensive Application Field)

This is the largest and most mature application market for capillary quartz tubes.

Gas Chromatography

Core component: The chromatographic column.
With advantages such as a smooth inner wall, chemical inertness (not easily reacting with samples), and good flexibility, capillary quartz tubes become the ideal material for manufacturing gas chromatography columns.

Working principle:
A very thin stationary phase (such as a polymer) is coated on the inner wall of the tube. Under the push of the carrier gas, the mixed sample flows through the tube. Different components are separated due to their different partition coefficients.

Edut:
Extremely high separation efficiency, fast analysis speed, and high sensitivity.

Capillary Electrophoresis

Core component: Separation channel.
Used in life sciences and pharmaceutical analysis to separate substances ranging from inorganic ions to biomacromolecules such as proteins and DNA.

Working principle:
Under a high-voltage electric field, samples migrate through the buffer-filled capillary at different speeds depending on their charge and molecular size, achieving separation.

Edut:
Very small sample volume (nanoliter scale), high degree of automation, and extremely high resolution.

Microfluidic Chips

Core role: Fluidic channels for “lab-on-a-chip” systems.
These chips integrate laboratory functions—mixing, reactions, separation, detection—onto a single small platform.

Applications:
Rapid disease diagnosis, gene sequencing, single-cell analysis, high-throughput drug screening.

Edut:
Quartz material provides excellent optical transparency and biocompatibility, enabling easy microscopic observation and optical detection.

2. Optoelectronics and Laser Technology

These applications make use of the outstanding optical properties of quartz glass (broad transmission range from UV to near-infrared).

Gas Lasers and Fiber Lasers

Core components: Laser cavity or gain fiber.
Capillary quartz tubes can serve as discharge chambers (e.g., in He-Ne lasers) or for manufacturing hollow-core fibers used to transmit high-power or special-wavelength laser beams.

Edut:
High power-handling capability and excellent thermal stability.

Optical Components and Sensors

Applications:
Used as light guides, micro-lens holders, and Fabry–Pérot interferometer cavities.

Optical fiber sensing:
Special types of capillaries (such as photonic crystal fibers) can be used to fabricate optical sensors sensitive to temperature, pressure, and refractive-index changes.

3. Semiconductor Industry

A field with extremely high requirements for purity and precision.

Diffusion and CVD Processes

Uses:
In high-temperature processes, capillary quartz tubes deliver high-purity reaction gases (e.g., silane, phosphine, diborane) to the wafer reaction chamber. The exceptional purity of quartz ensures no contamination of the gases.

Wafer Processing

Uses:
Used as components of quartz boats that hold wafers, or as micro-channels for chemical delivery in cleaning and etching processes.

4. Lighting Industry

High-Intensity Gas-Discharge Lamps

Uses:
Used to manufacture arc tubes of metal halide lamps, ultra-high-pressure mercury lamps, etc.
Capillary quartz tubes can withstand extremely high temperatures and pressures while providing excellent light transmission.

5. Special Research and Advanced Applications

Synchrotron Radiation and Particle Accelerators

Uses:
Employed as vacuum beamlines or optical component windows.

Quantum Technology

Uses:
In quantum computing and quantum communication research, special hollow capillary tubes can be used to trap atoms or act as a medium for photon–atom interactions.

Summary Table

Application Field	Specific Uses	Utilized Properties of Quartz Tubes
Analytical Chemistry	GC columns, CE channels	Chemical inertness, smooth inner wall, precise dimensions, flexibility
Life Sciences	Microfluidic chips, DNA analyzers	Biocompatibility, optical transparency, micron-scale channels
Optoelectronics/Laser	Laser cavities, hollow-core fibers, optical sensors	Broad spectral transmission, high laser-damage threshold, thermal stability
Semiconductor	Special gas delivery, wafer processing	Ultra-high purity, high-temperature resistance, corrosion resistance
Lighting	HID lamp arc tubes	High resistance to heat and pressure, good transparency
Frontier Research	Synchrotron, quantum technology	High vacuum performance, special optical structures (e.g., photonic crystals)

Capillary quartz tubes are a key foundational material in modern precision manufacturing and scientific research. Their application range continues to expand as technology advances.