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Characterization of Inkjet-Printed Digital Microfluidics Devices

Digital microfluidics (DMF) devices enable precise manipulation of small liquid volumes in point-of-care testing. A printed circuit board (PCB) substrate is commonly utilized to build DMF devices. However, inkjet printing can be used to fabricate DMF circuits, providing a less expensive alternative...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Chen, Shiyu, He, Zhidong, Choi, Suhwan, Novosselov, Igor V.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8125221/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33924812
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/s21093064
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author Chen, Shiyu
He, Zhidong
Choi, Suhwan
Novosselov, Igor V.
author_facet Chen, Shiyu
He, Zhidong
Choi, Suhwan
Novosselov, Igor V.
author_sort Chen, Shiyu
collection PubMed
description Digital microfluidics (DMF) devices enable precise manipulation of small liquid volumes in point-of-care testing. A printed circuit board (PCB) substrate is commonly utilized to build DMF devices. However, inkjet printing can be used to fabricate DMF circuits, providing a less expensive alternative to PCB-based DMF designs while enabling more rapid design iteration cycles. We demonstrate the cleanroom-free fabrication process of a low-cost inkjet-printed DMF circuit. We compare Kapton and polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) as dielectric coatings by measuring the minimal droplet actuation voltage for a range of actuation frequencies. A minimum actuation voltage of 5.6 V was required for droplet movement with the PMMA layer thickness of 0.2 μm and a hydrophobic layer of 0.17 μm. Significant issues with PMMA dielectric breakdown were observed at actuation voltages above 10 V. In comparison, devices that utilized Kapton were found to be more robust, even at an actuation voltage up to 100 V.
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spelling pubmed-81252212021-05-17 Characterization of Inkjet-Printed Digital Microfluidics Devices Chen, Shiyu He, Zhidong Choi, Suhwan Novosselov, Igor V. Sensors (Basel) Communication Digital microfluidics (DMF) devices enable precise manipulation of small liquid volumes in point-of-care testing. A printed circuit board (PCB) substrate is commonly utilized to build DMF devices. However, inkjet printing can be used to fabricate DMF circuits, providing a less expensive alternative to PCB-based DMF designs while enabling more rapid design iteration cycles. We demonstrate the cleanroom-free fabrication process of a low-cost inkjet-printed DMF circuit. We compare Kapton and polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) as dielectric coatings by measuring the minimal droplet actuation voltage for a range of actuation frequencies. A minimum actuation voltage of 5.6 V was required for droplet movement with the PMMA layer thickness of 0.2 μm and a hydrophobic layer of 0.17 μm. Significant issues with PMMA dielectric breakdown were observed at actuation voltages above 10 V. In comparison, devices that utilized Kapton were found to be more robust, even at an actuation voltage up to 100 V. MDPI 2021-04-28 /pmc/articles/PMC8125221/ /pubmed/33924812 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/s21093064 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Communication
Chen, Shiyu
He, Zhidong
Choi, Suhwan
Novosselov, Igor V.
Characterization of Inkjet-Printed Digital Microfluidics Devices
title Characterization of Inkjet-Printed Digital Microfluidics Devices
title_full Characterization of Inkjet-Printed Digital Microfluidics Devices
title_fullStr Characterization of Inkjet-Printed Digital Microfluidics Devices
title_full_unstemmed Characterization of Inkjet-Printed Digital Microfluidics Devices
title_short Characterization of Inkjet-Printed Digital Microfluidics Devices
title_sort characterization of inkjet-printed digital microfluidics devices
topic Communication
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8125221/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33924812
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/s21093064
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