Microfluidic system and driving method thereof

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2019105655-A1
Application number	US-201815977733-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	May 11, 2018
Priority date	Oct 11, 2017
Publication date	Apr 11, 2019
Grant date	—

Abstract

A microfluidic system is disclosed, including: a first substrate, a second substrate and a droplet flow channel arranged therebetween; a droplet driving unit configured to drive a droplet to move; a first control circuit electrically connected to the droplet driving unit and configured to input a first driving signal to the droplet driving unit to enable the droplet to move along the predetermined movement trajectory; a droplet detection unit configured to detect the droplet and output a detection signal; a second control circuit electrically connected to the droplet detection unit and configured to receive the detection signal and acquire an actual movement trajectory of the droplet;
and a signal adjustment unit configured to compare the actual movement trajectory with the predetermined movement trajectory, and if the actual movement trajectory is different from the predetermined movement trajectory, adjust in real time the first driving signal into a second driving signal.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A microfluidic system, comprising:
a first substrate; a second substrate arranged opposite to the first substrate; a droplet flow channel arranged between the first substrate and the second substrate and configured to accommodate a droplet therein; a droplet driving unit configured to drive the droplet to move in the droplet flow channel; a first control circuit electrically connected to the droplet driving unit and configured to input a first driving signal to the droplet driving unit to drive the droplet to move along a predetermined movement trajectory; a droplet detection unit configured to detect the droplet and output a detection signal; a second control circuit electrically connected to the droplet detection unit and configured to receive the detection signal to acquire an actual movement trajectory of the droplet; and a signal adjustment unit configured to compare the actual movement trajectory with the predetermined movement trajectory, and in the case that the actual movement trajectory is different from the predetermined movement trajectory, adjust, in a real-time manner, the first driving signal inputted to the droplet driving unit into a second driving signal in such a manner that the droplet moves back to the predetermined movement trajectory under the effect of the second driving signal.

2 . The microfluidic system according to claim 1 , wherein the droplet driving unit comprises a first electrode and a second electrode arranged on the first substrate and the second substrate respectively, and the first electrode and the second electrode are configured to generate an electric field between the first substrate and the second substrate to adjust a contact angle of the droplet in such a manner that the droplet is driven under the effect of the electric field to move in the droplet flow channel; and
wherein the first electrode comprises a plurality of first sub-electrodes insulated from each other.

3 . The microfluidic system according to claim 2 , wherein the droplet detection unit is arranged on the first substrate and comprises a plurality of detection sub-units, and each of the detection sub-units comprises a photosensitive sensor configured to receive a light beam and detect a change in an intensity of the light beam.

4 . The microfluidic system according to claim 3 , further comprising: a plurality of first thin film transistors (TFT) electrically connected to the first sub-electrodes in a one-to-one correspondence; and a plurality of second TFTs electrically connected to the detection sub-units in a one-to-one correspondence, wherein each of the first TFTs comprises a first source electrode, a first drain electrode and a first gate electrode, and each of the second TFTs comprises a second source electrode, a second drain electrode and a second gate electrode; and
wherein the first source source, the first drain electrode, the second source electrode and the second drain electrode are in a same layer, and the first gate electrode and the second gate electrode are in a same layer.

5 . The microfluidic system according to claim 4 , further comprising: a buffer unit, electrically connected to the first source electrode of each first TFT and the first control circuit, and configured to amplify the first driving signal or the second driving signal from the first control circuit.

6 . The microfluidic system according to claim 4 , further comprising: an integrator, electrically connected to the second source electrode of each second TFT and the second control circuit, and configured to preform analog-to-digital conversion on the detection signal received by the second control circuit.

7 . The microfluidic system according to claim 4 , wherein each of the detection sub-units comprises a third electrode, a fourth electrode and a photosensitive layer electrically connected to the third electrode and the fourth electrode, the third electrode is electrically connected to the second drain electrode of the second TFT, and the fourth electrode and the first electrode of the droplet driving unit are in a same layer.

8 . The microfluidic system according to claim 1 , wherein the signal adjustment unit is further configured to adjust the first driving signal into the second driving signal in accordance with at least one of a position or a size of the droplet.

9 . The microfluidic system according to claim 4 , wherein the first substrate comprises a base substrate, a gate electrode layer, a gate insulation layer, a source and drain electrode layer, a first insulation layer, a second insulation layer, an electrode layer, a third insulation layer and a first hydrophobic layer that are stacked in sequence, the first hydrophobic layer is arranged at a side of the first substrate adjacent to the droplet flow channel, the first gate electrode and the second gate electrode are formed from the gate electrode layer, the first drain electrode, the first source electrode, the second drain electrode and the second source electrode are formed from the source and drain electrode layer, and the fourth electrode of each detection sub-unit and the first electrode of the droplet driving unit are formed from the electrode layer.

10 . The microfluidic system according to claim 9 , wherein the second substrate comprises a second hydrophobic layer arranged at a side of the second substrate proximate to the first substrate.

11 . A driving method for a microfluidic system, wherein the microfluidic system comprises:
a first substrate; a second substrate arranged opposite to the first substrate; a droplet flow channel arranged between the first substrate and the second substrate and configured to receive accommodate a droplet therein; a droplet driving unit configured to drive the droplet to move in the droplet flow channel; a first control circuit electrically connected to the droplet driving unit and configured to input a first driving signal to the droplet driving unit to drive the droplet to move along a predetermined movement trajectory; a droplet detection unit configured to detect the droplet and output a detection signal; a second control circuit electrically connected to the droplet detection unit and configured to receive the detection signal and acquire an actual movement trajectory of the droplet; and a signal adjustment unit configured to compare the actual movement trajectory with the predetermined movement trajectory, and in the case that the actual movement trajectory is different from the predetermined movement trajectory, adjust, in a real-time manner, the first driving signal inputted to the droplet driving unit to a second driving signal in such a manner that the droplet moves back to the predetermined movement trajectory under the effect of the second driving signal, and wherein the driving method comprises: inputting, by the first control circuit, the first driving signal to the droplet driving unit to drive the droplet to move in the droplet flow channel along the predetermined movement trajectory; inputting a detection driving signal to the droplet detection unit, detecting, by the droplet detection unit, the droplet and outputting the detection signal, and receiving, by the second control circuit, the detection signal and acquiring the actual movement trajectory of the droplet in accordance with the detection signal; and comparing, by the signal adjustment unit, the actual movement trajectory with the predetermined movement trajectory, and in the case that the actual movement trajectory is different from the predetermined movement trajectory, adjusting, in a real-time manner, by the signal adjustment unit, the first driving signal inputted to

Assignees

• Boe Technology Group Co Ltd

Inventors

• Dong Xue
• Wang Haisheng
• Ding Xiaoliang
• Liu Yingming
• Han Yanling
• Guo Yuzhen
• Liu Wei
• Cao Xueyou

Classifications

• B01L3/502792 Primary

  for moving individual droplets on a plate, e.g. by locally altering surface tension · CPC title

• B01L2400/0427

  Electrowetting · CPC title

• B01L2200/0605

  Metering of fluids · CPC title

• B01L2400/0415

  electrical forces, e.g. electrokinetic · CPC title

• B01L2200/143

  Quality control, feedback systems · CPC title