Design Guidelines
Inquiry
Overview
Many aspects need to be considered for designing a microfluidic, such as designing new microfluidic sensors, actuators, connectors, etc. Although there are many detailed differences in specific cases, some parameters have basic reference ranges. These reference parameters will help users avoid falling into puzzles that components and systems may present to them that are difficult, inappropriate, or even impossible to interconnect with or integrate into their systems. Here we provide general introduction.
Pro forma standard chip sizes and interconnections
- In the analytical industry-based standard, the microfluidic connections are mostly miniLuers, placed on the borders of the chip with a pitch of 4.5 mm (or multiples of 4.5 mm) according to the positions of the outer wells of the standard layout.
Port pitche
- The port pitch, i.e., the distance between the centers of two ports is perhaps the most important parameter. It was decided that all the proposed layouts are to be based on a 1.5 mm grid. Not all the holes are necessarily present on the chip or connector, but all the hole positions are fixed.
Nominal distance of the first fluidic port from the reference point
- The nominal distance of the first hole/fluidic port from the reference point is a key guideline (3 mm, 3 mm). The distance is defined from the reference point to the center of the hole. This 3 mm distance from one side is the minimum distance for all four sides.
Distance between two rows
- Distance between two rows is a multiple of 1.5 mm (p*1.5 mm) from center to center on the y axis. Not all the rows are necessarily present on the chip or connector, but row positions are fixed.
Sizes of fluidic ports
- Minimum and maximum recommended diameters (d) of the port on the surface of the chip are
- 1.5 mm pitch : 0.4 < d < 0.7 mm
- 3.0 mm pitch : 0.4 < d < 2.0 mm
- 4.5 mm pitch : 0.4 < d < 3.5 mm
Nominal distance of the first fluidic port from the reference point
- Four preferred stack thicknesses with corresponding tolerances in relation to ToB connectors:
- 1.7 mm with +/- 0.22 mm
- 2 mm with +/- 0.2 mm
- 4 mm with +/- 0.4 mm
Table 1. Summary table of all interconnect guideline dimensions and tolerances regarding port pitches, chip thicknesses, and port dimensions.
|
Parameters
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Nominal value
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Minimal value
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Maximal value
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Tolerance
|
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Reference point: Left chip corner
|
|
|
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0 mm
|
|
Distance of the first hole from the reference point (3 mm, 3mm) (corner edge to hole center)
|
(3 mm,3 mm)
|
|
|
+/- 0.15 mm
|
|
Minimal distance of any hole from any side of the chip
|
|
3 mm
|
|
|
|
Distance between holes or port pitch (center to center)
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n*1.5 mm
|
1.5 mm
|
|
+/- 0.15 mm
|
Rows are parallel to the chip’s x-axis at a
distance from ref. point of n*1.5
|
n*1.5 mm
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1.5 mm
|
|
+/- 0.15 mm
|
|
Hole diameter for 1.5 mm grid
|
|
0.4 mm
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0,7 mm
|
|
|
Hole diameter for 3 mm grid
|
|
0.4 mm
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2.0 mm
|
|
|
Hole diameter for 4.5 mm grid
|
|
0.4 mm
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3.5 mm
|
|
|
Total Chip Thickness
|
1 mm
|
0.85 mm
|
1.15 mm
|
+/- 0.15 mm
|
|
Total Chip Thickness
|
1.7 mm
|
1.58 mm
|
1.92 mm
|
+/- 0.22 mm
|
|
Total Chip Thickness
|
2 mm
|
1.80 mm
|
2.20 mm
|
+/- 0.20 mm
|
|
Total Chip Thickness
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4 mm
|
3.60 mm
|
4.40 mm
|
+/- 0.40 mm
|
|
Tight tolerance of outer chip dimension (desired)
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|
|
|
+/- 0.05 mm
|
|
Lower tolerance of outer chip dimension (when tight tolerance not achievable)
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|
|
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+ 0.05 /- 0.15 mm
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Services at Creative Biolabs
There are many details in microfluidic components and systems design. Creative Biolabs has rich experience and provides comprehensive relevant services. We have established a comprehensive one-stop microfluidic solution platform and provide a variety of microfluidic-based services including but not limited to:
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