Design and Rapid Prototyping of Thin-Film Laminate-Based Microfluidic Devices

An integrated microfluidic design, modeling, and rapid prototyping process is presented. It is based on laser cutting and lamination of individual thin layers of plastic. The process allows the rapid and low-cost manufacturing of both simple and complex 3-dimensional microfluidic flow structures that are routinely designed, fabricated, and tested within the space of 24 hours. It has yielded microfluidic elements and systems, such as mixers, separators, and detectors, as well as complete microfluidic integrated circuits that have been used with complex biological samples such as whole blood. Both "active", machine-controlled microfluidic disposables as well as "passive", self-contained cards that do not require any external instrument are presented. Such devices include a disposable hematology analyzer chip, as well as blood separation and analysis tools.