Analysis and extraction of parametric variation effects on microelectrofluidics-based biochips

Microfluidic biochips require continued online test to ensure their functionality, performance, and reliability in the presence of runtime parametric variation and system wear-out. Previous techniques locate catastrophic defects which guide subsequent droplet scheduling and routing procedures. However, a significant number of defects on a microfluidic biochip are parametric variations, taking them as catastrophic defects leads to incorrectly identified defect locations, which compromises droplet scheduling and routing. This paper presents the first characterization method for continous droplet movement after passing a faulty cell on a microfluidic biochip in the presence of parametric variations, and the first microfluidic biochip parametric variation extraction method locating the critical cells which originate un-recoverable droplet speed loss. The proposed techniques provide better characterization of parametric variations in droplet movement, and enable performance optimization in droplet scheduling and routing on a microfluidic biochip.