Microfluidic Large Scale Integration
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Abstract
High-density microfluidic chips contain plumbing networks with thousands of micromechanical valves and hundreds of individually addressable chambers. These fluidic devices are analogous to electronic integrated circuits fabricated using large scale integration (LSI). A component of these networks is the fluidic multiplexor, which is a combinatorial array of binary valve patterns that exponentially increases the processing power of a network by allowing complex fluid manipulations with a minimal number of inputs. These integrated microfluidic networks can be used to construct a variety of highly complex microfluidic devices, for example the microfluidic analog of a comparator array, and a microfluidic memory storage device resembling electronic random access memories.
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Citations
53 Claims
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1-36. -36. (canceled)
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37. A method of isolating elements of heterogeneous sample, the method comprising:
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flowing a sample comprising heterogeneous elements down a first elongated microfluidic flow channel; actuating a first valve overlying the first elongated flow channel to define first and second segments, such that the first segment contains a first element of the heterogeneous sample and the second segment contains a second element of the heterogeneous sample. - View Dependent Claims (38, 39, 40, 41)
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42. A microfluidic device comprising:
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a selectively-addressable storage location defined within elastomer material; a first flow channel in selective fluid communication with the storage location through a valve; and a second flow channel in selective fluid communication with the storage location through a second valve. - View Dependent Claims (43, 44, 45, 46, 47)
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48. A method for selectively storing and recovering a material in a microfluidic device, the method comprising:
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providing a chamber defined within an elastomer material; selectively flowing a material into the chamber through a first valve in a first flow channel; and selectively flowing the material from the chamber through a second valve in a second flow channel. - View Dependent Claims (49, 50, 51, 52, 53)
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Specification