A Capacity-Aware Wash Optimization for Contamination Removal in Programmable Microfluidic Biochip Devices

TLDR: A wash optimization model is proposed that aims to remove all the contaminations while minimizing washing time and total capacity wastage and has been evaluated considering a number of baseline methods and the previous works.

Abstract: Flow-based microfluidic biochips have emerged as a potential lab-on-chip platform for numerous biochemistry operations. Among various flow-based biochips, Programmable Microfluidic Devices (PMDs) receive much attention due to its capability of performing functionalities on a single platform with no hardware modifications. High precision control and production of correct outcomes are the urgent needs in the PMDs. While sharing the micro-channels, a fluid-flow may be contaminated by the residues stuck on the channel. Washing of the microchannels with buffer fluid is an immediate solution for safe execution of biochemistry. However, each wash fluid has a finite washing capacity and can wash only a limited number of contaminated spots. In this paper, we propose a wash optimization model that aims to remove all the contaminations while minimizing washing time and total capacity wastage. The effectiveness of the proposed approach has been evaluated considering a number of baseline methods and the previous works.