SURFACE STRUCTURING WITH COLLOIDAL ASSEMBLY

1 .- 322 . (canceled)

323 . A flow cell surface comprising a plurality of binding sites of at least 10,000 binding sites separated by disjunctions,

wherein the disjunctions are irregular,

wherein the position, size, and shape of the disjunctions are not predetermined, and

wherein binding sites of the flow cell are hydrophilic, hydrophobic, positively charged, negatively charged, comprise a functional moiety for covalent attachment, comprise an affinity biomolecule, comprise an intermediate nucleic acid, or a combination thereof.

324 . The flow cell surface of claim 323 , wherein the pitch between any two adjacent binding sites is at most 2 micrometers.

325 . The flow cell surface of claim 324 , wherein the pitch between a middle binding site and a neighbor binding site of the plurality of binding sites is at least 0.1 m different than the pitch between the middle binding site and another neighbor binding site of the plurality of binding sites.

326 . The flow cell surface of claim 323 , wherein a material of the flow cell surface comprises silicon, silicon nitride glass, borosilicate glass, quartz, fused quartz, silica, fused silica, a metal, a ceramic, plastic, or a combination thereof.

327 . The flow cell surface of claim 323 , wherein the plurality of binding sites comprises a plurality of nucleic acids.

328 . The flow cell surface of claim 327 , wherein one, at least 50% of the binding sits comprise a single monoclonal nucleic acid cluster.

329 . The flow cell surface of claim 327 , wherein one, one or more, or each of the plurality of nucleic acids comprises an amplification primer or a splint primer, an amplification product from rolling circle amplification (RCA), a DNA tile, or a combination thereof.

330 . A method of specifying binding sites on a planar structure comprising:

providing a planar structure subsumed in a liquid;

delivering a plurality of particles to a surface of the liquid; and

removing the liquid between the plurality of particles and the planar structure, such that the plurality of particles is in contact with the planar structure,

wherein the plurality of particles in contact with the planar structure specifies a plurality of binding sites on the planar structure,

wherein the plurality of binding sites comprises at least 10,000 binding sites which are separated by disjunctions,

wherein the disjunctions are irregular, and

wherein the position, size, and shape of the disjunctions are not predetermined.

331 . The method of claim 330 , wherein the pitch between any two adjacent particles is at most 2 micrometers.

332 . The method of claim 331 , wherein the plurality of particles comprises a first subset of particles having a first identical radius and a second subset of particles having a second identical radius, and wherein the first identical radius and the second identical radius are different by at least 0.1 um.

333 . The method of claim 330 , further comprising etching the planar structure and the plurality of particles in contact with the planar structure to generate:

a plurality of retained regions where a substance layer on the planar surface is in contact with the plurality of particles and is differentially retained, and

a plurality of etched regions where the substance is not in contact with the plurality of particles and is differentially removed.

334 . The method of claim 333 , wherein the planar surface comprises a masking layer in contact with the substance layer, wherein the substance layer on the planar surface at the plurality of retained regions is in contact with the plurality of particles via the masking layer at the plurality of retained regions, wherein the masking layer at the plurality of retained regions is in contact with the plurality of particles and is differentially retained, and wherein the masking layer at the plurality of etched regions is not in contact with the plurality of particles and is differentially removed.

335 . The method of claim 334 , further comprising applying a passivating chemistry to interstitials of binding sites corresponding to retained regions of the plurality of retained regions being generated while the beads prevent grafting of functional groups to the binding sites.

336 . The method of claim 335 , further comprising removing the masking layer and exposing bare glass of the planar structure, wherein a secondary chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process is used to graft active chemistry for DNA covalent capture on the binding sites.

337 . The method of any one of claim 333 , comprising passivating the plurality of etched regions to generate passivated regions.

338 . A method comprising delivering a plurality of nucleic acids to a plurality of binding sites on a surface of a flow cell, wherein the plurality of binding sites comprising at least 10,000 binding sites separated by disjunctions, wherein the disjunctions are irregular, and wherein the position, size, and shape of the disjunctions are not predetermined.

339 . The method of claim 338 , wherein the nucleic acids are concatemers that are rolling circle amplification (RCA) products.

340 . The method of claim 339 , further comprising performing rolling circle amplification (RCA) in solution by extending an amplification primer or a splint primer with a plurality of templates to generate the concatemers, prior to depositing the concatemers on the binding sites.

341 . The method of claim 339 , wherein the concatemer is bound to an intermediate nucleic acid, and wherein the intermediate nucleic acid is a DNA tile.

342 . The method of claim 339 , comprising forming concatemers on the binding sites of the flow cell by rolling circle amplification (RCA) of a target nucleic acid from splint oligonucleotides.

343 . The method of claim 342 , wherein the splint oligonucleotides are each presented by a DNA tile bound to a binding site of the plurality of binding sites.

344 . The method of claim 343 , wherein the DNA tile comprises a plurality of capture sequences each comprising a portion of a splint oligonucleotide.

345 . The method of claim 338 , comprising:

providing a plurality of asymmetric DNA tiles;

providing a plurality of concatemers;

binding individual concatemers to a first side of individual DNA tiles in solution; and

depositing the DNA tiles on the surface of the flow cell such that a second side of the individual DNA tiles binds to the binding sites of the surface while the first side of the individual DNA tiles remains bound to a concatemer.

346 . The method of claim 338 , wherein at least 50% of the binding sits comprise a single monoclonal nucleic acid cluster.

347 . The method of claim 339 , further comprising sequencing the concatemers.