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Novel Fabrication Method of a Microfluidic Continuous Flow PCR


 In this study, simulation, design, and fabrication of a Micro PCR based on MEMS and LoC are done. The designed PCR has 2 temperature zones. In fact, in this PCR, the second and third stages of the experiment are merged inside one temperature zone. In the first step, a proper design based on genetic studies is considered. Then, to find the location of the heaters, the system is numerically studied via COMSOL Multiphysics. The designed PCR in this study has 2 temperature zones of 95 and 60 centigrade. After that, the heat transfer analysis is validated. The dimensions of the chip are 80 mm in length and width and 7 mm in height. There are 64 channels on the chip which means the PCR has 32 cycles. The length of each microchannel is 33 mm and each temperature cycle is 68 mm. The width of the microchannels is 500 mm and the depth of it is 400 µm (following Mohr et al. study (30)). Different methods for fabrication of the microchannel has been used, which in the end, laser engraving was chosen. Isopropyl Alcohol (IPA) is used for the bonding. Also, the thickness of the cap is considered 2 mm to strengthen the chip. Heater and Peltier (thermoelectric cooler) is used to reach the desired temperatures. The reason to use the Peltier is that the 95 centigrade zone can affect the 60 centigrade zone which increases the temperature at this zone. A PID controller is used to control the temperatures. The main advantage of this research is the very fast, easy, and low-cost method for producing PCR chips. It can be useful in critical situations, such as COVID-19 pandemic conditions where there is an urgent need for PCR chips to diagnose this disease.