Microfluidic chip, detecting and driving method thereof, and on-chip laboratory system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11344889-B2
Application number	US-201916603648-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 26, 2019
Priority date	Aug 9, 2018
Publication date	May 31, 2022
Grant date	May 31, 2022

Abstract

The embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a microfluidic chip. The microfluidic chip may include a substrate. The substrate may include an electrode layer on a base substrate, a dielectric layer on the electrode layer, and a lyophobic layer on the dielectric layer. The electrode layer may include a plurality of electrode units. Each of the plurality of electrode units may be configured to realize both droplet detection and droplet driving in response to a detection signal and a driving signal respectively.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A microfluidic chip, comprising a substrate, the substrate comprising:
an electrode layer on a base substrate, the electrode layer comprising a plurality of electrode units,
a dielectric layer on the electrode layer, and
a lyophobic layer on the dielectric layer;
wherein each of the plurality of electrode units is configured to realize both droplet detection and droplet driving in response to a detection signal and a driving signal respectively;
each of the electrode units comprises a plurality of first electrodes and a plurality of second electrodes disposed at intervals;
each of the first electrodes and each of the second electrodes are in a strip shape; and
each of the electrode units further comprises a first connecting block connecting first ends of the first electrodes and a second connecting block connecting second ends of the second electrodes, thereby forming an array of interdigital electrodes;
the microfluidic chip further comprises a plurality of first input electrodes and a plurality of second input electrodes, each of the plurality of first input electrodes being connected to a first connecting block of one electrode unit, each of the plurality of second input electrodes being connected to a second connecting block of one electrode unit; and
the first input electrodes and the second input electrodes are configured to input the detection signal and the drive signal to the first electrodes and the second electrodes through the first connecting block and the second connecting block respectively.

2. The microfluidic chip according to claim 1 , wherein the strip shape has a length of about 3 mm to about 5 mm and a width of about 100 μm to about 500 μm, and the intervals between the first electrodes and the second electrodes are in a range about 10 μm to 50 μm.

3. The microfluidic chip according to claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of first electrodes and each of the plurality of second electrode are in a block shape.

4. The microfluidic chip according to claim 3 , wherein the block shape has a length of about 100 μm to about 500 μm and a width of about 100 μm to about 500 μm, and the intervals between the first electrodes and the second electrodes are in a range of about 10 μm to about 50 μm.

5. The microfluidic chip according to claim 3 , wherein each of the electrode units further comprise a first connection line and a second connection line, the first connection line connecting all of the plurality of first electrodes, the second connection line connecting all of the plurality of second electrodes, thereby forming a matrix form of electrode array.

6. The microfluidic chip according to claim 5 , wherein the microfluidic chip further comprises a plurality of first input terminals and a plurality of second input terminals, each of the first input terminals being connected to a first connection line of one electrode unit, each of the second input terminals being connected to a second connection line of one electrode unit, and the first input terminals and the second input terminals are configured to input the detection signal and the drive signal to the first electrodes and the second electrodes through the first connection line and the second connection line, respectively.

7. The microfluidic chip according to claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of electrode units has a square or rectangle shape, with a side length of about 3 mm to about 5 mm, and an interval between two adjacent electrode units is about 0.3 mm to about 0.5 mm.

8. The microfluidic chip according to claim 1 , wherein the detection signal comprises a first alternating current signal having a voltage value of about 5 mV to about 100 mV and a frequency of about 10 Hz to about 1 MHz; and the driving signal comprises a second alternating current signal having a voltage value of about ±30 V to 100 V and a frequency of about 1 kHz to 2 kHz.

9. The microfluidic chip according to claim 1 , further comprising an opposite substrate, wherein the opposite substrate comprising a base substrate and a lyophobic layer, and the droplets are disposed between the lyophobic layers of the substrate and the opposite substrate.

10. The microfluidic chip according to claim 1 , further comprising a liquid storage zone and a waste liquid zone, wherein the liquid storage zone is configured for adding a test sample to the electrode units, the waste liquid zone is configured for receiving a test sample flowing out of the electrode units, the plurality of electrode units being disposed between the liquid storage zone and the waste liquid zone.

11. An on-chip laboratory system, comprising the microfluidic chip of claim 1 .

12. A detection and driving method of a microfluidic chip, wherein the microfluidic chip comprising an electrode layer, a dielectric layer and a lyophobic layer sequentially formed on a base substrate, and the electrode layer comprising a plurality of electrode units arranged regularly; the detection and driving method comprising:
performing droplet detection using a first electrode unit, wherein the first electrode unit is an electrode unit corresponding to a position of droplet; and
performing droplet driving using a second electrode unit to move the droplet to a position corresponding to the second electrode unit, and the second electrode unit is adjacent to the first electrode unit;
wherein performing droplet detection using the first electrode unit comprises:
inputting a detection signal to the first electrode unit; and
reading impedance signal generated by the first electrode unit and outputting the impedance signal to an external processing circuit for processing.

13. The detection and driving method according to claim 12 , wherein each of the electrode units comprises a plurality of first electrodes and a plurality of second electrodes disposed at intervals, inputting the detection signal to the first electrode unit comprises inputting a first alternating current signal having a voltage value of about 5 mV to about 100 mV and a frequency of about 10 Hz to about 1 MHz to the plurality of first electrodes and the plurality of second electrodes in the first electrode unit.

14. The detection and driving method according to claim 13 , wherein performing the droplet driving using the second electrode unit to move the droplet to the position corresponding to the second electrode unit comprises:
inputting a driving signal to the second electrode unit and a ground signal to the first electrode unit simultaneously to move the droplet from the position corresponding to the first electrode unit to the position corresponding to the second electrode unit.

15. The detection and driving method according to claim 14 , wherein each of the electrode units comprises a plurality of first electrodes and a plurality of second electrodes disposed at intervals, inputting the driving signal to the second electrode unit comprises inputting a second alternating current signal having a voltage value of about ±30 V to about 100 V and a frequency of about 1 kHz to about 2 kHz to the plurality of first electrodes and the plurality of second electrodes in the second electrode unit.

Assignees

• Beijing Boe Optoelectronics Tech Co Ltd
• Boe Technology Group Co Ltd

Inventors

• Cui Haochen
• Cai Peizhi
• Che Chuncheng
• Pang Fengchun
• Zhao Yingying
• Geng Yue
• Gu Le
• Zhao Nan
• Xiao Yuelei
• Liao Hui

Classifications

• B01L3/50273 Primary

  characterised by the means or forces applied to move the fluids · CPC title

• B01L2400/022

  droplet contacts the surface of the receptacle · CPC title

• G01N27/02

  by investigating impedance · CPC title

• B01L2200/10

  Integrating sample preparation and analysis in single entity, e.g. lab-on-a-chip concept · CPC title

• B01L2300/0645

  Electrodes · CPC title