Microfluidic devices with integrated resistive heater electrodes including systems and methods for controlling and measuring the temperatures of such heater electrodes

摘要

The invention relates to methods and devices for control of an integrated thin-film device with a plurality of microfluidic channels. In one embodiment, the microfluidic device includes a microfluidic chip comprising a first zone having a plurality of microfluidic channels and a second zone having a plurality of microfluidic channels, wherein the microfluidic channels in the first and second zones are in fluid communication. The microfluidic device further comprising a thin-film heater in thermal communication with each of the microfluidic channels in the first and second zones. The microfluidic device also includes a control system configured to independently control the temperature of each of the thin-film heaters using pulse width modulation (PWM) control signals that are optimized for each of the thin-film heaters.

主权项

1. In a microfluidic device incorporating thin-film heaters within a plurality of microfluidic channels to effect a biological reaction with multiple steps each requiring a different temperature, a method of controlling the microfluidic with pulse width modulation (PWM) comprising:
generating a set of calibration data while calibrating a modulation frequency with a temperature by measuring a cooling rate of the thin-film heaters between pulses and adjusting the modulation frequency based upon the measured rate; using the calibration data to generate a PWM control signal for the thin-film heaters designed to bring the heaters to a desired temperature for a first step in the biological process; adjusting the PWM signal to achieve a temperature for an appropriate time required by said first step; and adjusting the PWM signal to achieve a desired temperature for a second step in the biological process.