A novel placement algorithm for multi-pin digital microfluidic biochips

In recent times droplet based digital microfluidics have undergone a revolutionary approach towards liquid handling: discrete droplets are manipulated electrically using electrodes to independently control each droplet. A major issue in design automation of digital microfluidic biochips (DMFB) is the concurrent routing of multiple droplets. However the routing procedure of droplets can be facilitated by optimizing the placement of source droplets and corresponding targets with respect to a pre-scheduled arrangement of modules. This paper depicts a routing-aware (pre-)placement scheme followed by routing algorithm that optimizes (i) the average routing time, (ii) the latest arrival time for all the droplets in concurrent routing, (iii) the overall cell and thus electrode utilizations. The proposed algorithm is tested on Benchmark suite III testbenches and the results obtained illustrate major improvements compared to the existing works.