The integration of EWOD and SAW technologies for improved droplet manipulation and mixing

This paper details the first reported integration of two advanced digital microfluidic technologies where 100 mum silicon cubes are transported with electrowetting on dielectric (EWOD) and the droplet then held with EWOD while the silicon cubes are mixed with another liquid using a surface acoustic wave (SAW). Together these two technologies provide a comprehensive lab-on-a-chip combination with well developed functionalities. These include droplet generation, splitting and transportation offered by EWOD with transportation, mixing and biosensing being potentially available with SAW. The fabrication of both EWOD and SAW structures on LiNbO
₃
substrates used low temperature Ta/Ta
₂
O
₅
/CYTOP layer deposition and patterning technologies, which enabled efficient transportation and mixing functions to be demonstrated.