Apparatuses and methods for manipulating droplets on a printed circuit board
First Claim
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1. An apparatus for manipulating droplets, the apparatus comprising:
- (a) a printed circuit board substrate comprising a first side surface and a second side surface;
(b) an array of electrodes disposed on the substrate first side surface;
(c) a dielectric layer disposed on the substrate first side surface and patterned to cover the electrodes; and
(d) an electrode selector for dynamically creating a sequence of array electrode activation whereby a droplet disposed on the substrate first side surface is electrically manipulated.
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Abstract
Apparatuses and methods for manipulating droplets on a printed circuit board (PCB) are disclosed. Droplets are actuated upon a printed circuit board substrate surface by the application of electrical potentials to electrodes defined on the PCB. The use of soldermask as an electrode insulator for droplet manipulation as well techniques for adapting other traditional PCB layers and materials for droplet-based microfluidics are also disclosed.
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Citations
42 Claims
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1. An apparatus for manipulating droplets, the apparatus comprising:
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(a) a printed circuit board substrate comprising a first side surface and a second side surface; (b) an array of electrodes disposed on the substrate first side surface; (c) a dielectric layer disposed on the substrate first side surface and patterned to cover the electrodes; and (d) an electrode selector for dynamically creating a sequence of array electrode activation whereby a droplet disposed on the substrate first side surface is electrically manipulated. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. An apparatus for manipulating droplets, the apparatus comprising:
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(a) a printed circuit board substrate comprising a first side surface and a second side surface; (b) an array of drive electrodes disposed on the substrate first side surface; (c) an array of one or more reference elements settable to a common reference potential disposed in at least substantially co-planar relation to the drive electrode array; (d) a dielectric substance layer disposed on the substrate first side surface and patterned to cover the drive electrodes; and (e) an electrode selector for dynamically creating a sequence of array electrode activation whereby a droplet disposed on the substrate first side surface is electrically manipulated. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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27. An apparatus for manipulating droplets, the apparatus comprising:
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(a) a printed circuit board substrate comprising a first side surface and a second side surface; (b) an array of drive electrodes disposed on the substrate first side surface; (c) an elongate reference element substantially parallel to and spaced apart from the substrate first side surface by a distance to define a space between the reference element and the substrate first side surface, wherein the distance is sufficient to contain a droplet disposed in the space; (d) a dielectric substance layer disposed on the substrate first side surface and patterned to cover the drive electrodes; and (e) an electrode selector for dynamically creating a sequence of array electrode activation whereby a droplet disposed on the substrate first side surface is electrically manipulated. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41)
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42. An apparatus for manipulating droplets, the apparatus comprising:
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(a) a first printed circuit board substrate comprising a first side surface and a second side surface; (b) an array of drive electrodes disposed on the first printed circuit board substrate first side surface; (c) a dielectric substance layer disposed on the first printed circuit board substrate first side surface and patterned to cover the drive electrodes; (d) a second printed circuit board substrate comprising a first side surface and a second side surface, the second printed circuit board substrate being substantially parallel to and spaced apart from the first printed circuit board substrate by a distance to define a space between the second printed circuit board substrate second side surface and the first printed circuit board substrate first side surface, wherein the distance is sufficient to contain a droplet disposed in the space; (e) an array of drive electrodes and an array of one or more reference elements disposed on the second printed circuit board substrate second side surface; and (f) an electrode selector for dynamically creating a sequence of array electrode activation whereby a droplet disposed between the first printed circuit board substrate first side surface and the second printed circuit board substrate second side surface is electrically manipulated.
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Specification