Issue 4, 2010

Modular integration of electronics and microfluidic systems using flexible printed circuit boards

Abstract

Microfluidic systems offer an attractive alternative to conventional wet chemical methods with benefits including reduced sample and reagent volumes, shorter reaction times, high-throughput, automation, and low cost. However, most present microfluidic systems rely on external means to analyze reaction products. This substantially adds to the size, complexity, and cost of the overall system. Electronic detection based on sub-millimetre size integrated circuits (ICs) has been demonstrated for a wide range of targets including nucleic and amino acids, but deployment of this technology to date has been limited due to the lack of a flexible process to integrate these chips within microfluidic devices. This paper presents a modular and inexpensive process to integrate ICs with microfluidic systems based on standard printed circuit board (PCB) technology to assemble the independently designed microfluidic and electronic components. The integrated system can accommodate multiple chips of different sizes bonded to glass or PDMS microfluidic systems. Since IC chips and flex PCB manufacturing and assembly are industry standards with low cost, the integrated system is economical for both laboratory and point-of-care settings.

Graphical abstract: Modular integration of electronics and microfluidic systems using flexible printed circuit boards

Article information

Article type
Technical Note
Submitted
30 Oct 2009
Accepted
11 Nov 2009
First published
02 Dec 2009

Lab Chip, 2010,10, 519-521

Modular integration of electronics and microfluidic systems using flexible printed circuit boards

A. Wu, L. Wang, E. Jensen, R. Mathies and B. Boser, Lab Chip, 2010, 10, 519 DOI: 10.1039/B922830F

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