Patent 6955915 was granted and assigned to Affymetrix on October, 2005 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
A synthetic strategy for the creation of large scale chemical diversity. Solid-phase chemistry, photolabile protecting groups, and photolithography are used to achieve light-directed spatially-addressable parallel chemical synthesis. Binary masking techniques are utilized in one embodiment. A reactor system, photoremovable protecting groups, and improved data collection and handling techniques are also disclosed. A technique for screening linker molecules is also provided.