Conference Program - LOPE-C 2011

SCIENTIFIC CONF. | WEDNESDAY-JUNE 29, 2011
Track 5
Sensors and Systems (11:30 am - 01:20 pm) | LOCATION HARMONIE E / LEVEL C2
12:40 pm Inkjet Printed Heaters and Resistive Temperature Detectors for Biological Microfluidic Applications
Ms Lakshmi Jagannathan,
UC Berkeley, United States
Printed electronics is an attractive paradigm for realization of biological microfluidic systems. The large area of typical biological microfluidic systems makes printing
attractive from a cost perspective. Furthermore, since printing allows for easy integration of disparate materials on the same substrate through spatially-specific deposition,
printed electronics is particularly attractive for integration of diverse biological microfluidic functionality on the same substrate. While there have been demonstrations of
printed transistors and biosensors, there have been no demonstrations to date of the critical reactor components required for biological microfluidic applications; in
particular, virtually all integrated biological reactors require integrated heaters and resistive temperature detectors (RTDs). Resistive heaters, in particular, are used in
numerous applications such as microfluidics, fiber optics, and electronics/substrate heating. Here, for the first time, we demonstrate inkjet printed resistive heaters and
resistive temperature detectors specifically designed for biological microfluidic applications. To serve the desired biological application, the heater structures have been
optimized using COMSOL (finite element method) simulations for uniform and efficient heating. The realized heaters and RTDs are printed using nanoparticle gold ink on a
biological glass substrate. The inert quality of gold successfully yields heaters and temperature detectors that are nonreactive to solutions used in biological applications.
Relevant biological processes such as PCR (polymerase chain reaction) and DNA sequencing require temperatures as high as 95?C. The optimized printed heater
structure herein generates a temperature differential of greater than 100C with an applied voltage of 10-12V. Many biological applications (PCR, Sanger sequencing,
RT-PCR and other enzymatic reactions, for example) require precise control and stability of temperature, which is also demonstrated in this paper through integration into a
microchip bioprocessor system capable of PCR.
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