Field-programmable cell array pin-constrained digital microfluidic biochip

Digital microfluidic biochips are revolutionary solutions towards automation of bio-chemistry procedures. This technology offers promising improvements in terms of experiment time, consumption of experiment materials and reconfigurability. This paper presents a novel pin-constrained digital microfluidic biochip architecture; the proposed design is formed by placing appropriate number of fundamental cells along each other. The proposed design provides general-purpose assay execution; further the cellular structure results in regulated layout of the design. According to simulation results the proposed design offers 10 % reduction in terms of array dimensions; also, the number of electrodes and controlling pins used for driving electrodes are reduced by 1 % and 8 %, respectively. The regulated structure of the design provides numerous routing paths resulting in significantly lower routing times; the proposed design illustrates 12 % reduction in terms of routing times. Eventually, given the considerable reduction in routing times the total bio-assay execution time is reduced by 1 % correspondingly.