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A special issue of Micromachines (ISSN 2072-666X). This special issue belongs to the section "E：Engineering and Technology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (28 February 2022) | Viewed by 43136

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Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Francisco Perdigones

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Guest Editor

Department of Electronic Engineering, University of Seville, 41092 Seville, Spain
Interests: integration of sensors and/or actuators on lab-on-PCB platforms; marketable lab-on-PCB devices; biomedical and chemical applications; PCB-MEMS devices
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Lab-on-PCB has been the subject of increasing research over the last years. These devices emerge as a promising evolution of “lab on a chip” and the “PCB-MEMS” technology. They share important properties with lab-on-chip devices, that is, small fluid volume and rapid response time. In addition, lab-on-PCB is particularly interesting due to the integration of microfluidics, electronics, sensors and actuators in the same platform. Apart from the integration, the interest lies in the commercial availability of the PCB substrate with very reasonable dimensions at low cost. This fact makes lab-on-PCB devices an attractive choice from the market point of view. However, lab-on-PCB is far from being robust. Unlike microelectronic chips, lab-on-PCB devices require a highly multidisciplinary R&D group, and they are lack of standardization for both design and end-user interfaces. Finally, the core of lab-on-PCB devices is based on the integration of sensors (both for measuring the results of a reaction, and for controlling the parameters of the samples, if necessary) and actuators. The actuators are intended for moving the samples through the lab on PCB and for conditioning the samples.

Accordingly, this Special Issue seeks to showcase research papers and review papers that especially focus on the integration of sensors and/or actuators on lab-on-PCB platforms. Topics related to lab-on-PCB that can be accepted include but are not limited to:

Integration of sensors and/or actuators on lab-on-PCB platforms
Mass-production fabrication processes of lab-on-PCB devices and techniques
Cell cultures on lab-on-PCB devices
Organs on a PCB

Papers reporting integrated sensors and actuators on biomedical or chemical lab-on-PCB platforms with microfluidic control of the samples are especially welcomed.

We look forward to receiving your submissions!

Prof. Dr. Francisco Perdigones
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Micromachines is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

lab on PCB
sensors integrated on lab on PCB
actuators integrated on lab on PCB
cell culture on lab on PCB
organ on a PCB
biomedical application
chemical application

Published Papers (11 papers)

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Editorial

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4 pages, 173 KiB

Open AccessEditorial

Editorial for the Special Issue on Lab-on-PCB Devices

by Francisco Perdigones

Micromachines 2022, 13(7), 1001; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi13071001 - 25 Jun 2022

Viewed by 1166

Abstract

The use of Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs) has seen a remarkable growth over the last decade, with applications in engineering, medicine, biology, chemistry, etc [...] Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Lab-on-PCB Devices)

Research

Jump to: Editorial, Review

11 pages, 4676 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Comparative Analysis of Printed Circuit Boards with Surface-Mounted and Embedded Components under Natural and Forced Convection

by Maksim Korobkov, Fedor Vasilyev and Vladimir Mozharov

Micromachines 2022, 13(4), 634; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi13040634 - 17 Apr 2022

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 1860

Abstract

This article is dedicated to the research of the physical reliability of electronic devices. It consists of a comparative thermal analysis of the cooling efficiency of a surface-mounted and an embedded component on a printed circuit board. A simulated finite element model of heat distribution over a printed circuit board with a surface component was constructed. An experiment confirmed the objectivity of the modeling results. The component’s temperature was then analyzed depending on the installation method (surface and embedded) and the cooling method (natural and forced with varying airflow velocities). The results showed that the temperature of the embedded component was less than the temperature of the surface-mounted component under natural convection and, in most cases, under forced convection (with an airflow velocity of forced cooling under

16 \frac{m}{s}

). Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Lab-on-PCB Devices)

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6 pages, 1100 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperEditor’s ChoiceArticle

3D Printed PCB Microfluidics

by Stefan Gassmann, Sathurja Jegatheeswaran, Till Schleifer, Hesam Arbabi and Helmut Schütte

Micromachines 2022, 13(3), 470; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi13030470 - 19 Mar 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 3068

Abstract

The combination of printed circuit boards (PCB) and microfluidics has many advantages. The combination of electrodes, sensors and electronics is needed for almost all microfluidic systems. Using PCBs as a substrate, this integration is intrinsic. Additive manufacturing has become a widely used technique in industry, research and by hobbyists. One very promising rapid prototype technique is vat polymerization with an LCD as mask, also known as masked stereolithography (mSLA). These printers are available with resolutions down to 35 µm, and they are affordable. In this paper, a technology is described which creates microfluidics on a PCB substrate using an mSLA printer. All steps of the production process can be carried out with commercially available printers and resins: this includes the structuring of the copper layer of the PCB and the buildup of the channel layer on top of the PCB. Copper trace dimensions down to 100 µm and channel dimensions of 800 µm are feasible. The described technology is a low-cost solution for combining PCBs and microfluidics. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Lab-on-PCB Devices)

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12 pages, 3080 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Novel Planar Grounded Capacitively Coupled Contactless Conductivity Detector for Microchip Electrophoresis

by Jianjiao Wang, Yaping Liu, Wenhe He, Yuanfen Chen and Hui You

Micromachines 2022, 13(3), 394; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi13030394 - 28 Feb 2022

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 3558

Abstract

In the microchip electrophoresis with capacitively coupled contactless conductivity detection, the stray capacitance of the detector causes high background noise, which seriously affects the sensitivity and stability of the detection system. To reduce the effect, a novel design of planar grounded capacitively coupled contactless conductivity detector (PG-C4D) based on printed circuit board (PCB) is proposed. The entire circuit plane except the sensing electrodes is covered by the ground electrode, greatly reducing the stray capacitance. The efficacy of the design has been verified by the electrical field simulation and the electrophoresis detection experiments of inorganic ions. The baseline intensity of the PG-C4D was less than 1/6 of that of the traditional C4D. The PG-C4D with the new design also demonstrated a good repeatability of migration time, peak area, and peak height (n = 5, relative standard deviation, RSD ≤ 0.3%, 3%, and 4%, respectively), and good linear coefficients within the range of 0.05–0.75 mM (R² ≥ 0.986). The detection sensitivity of K⁺, Na⁺, and Li⁺ reached 0.05, 0.1, and 0.1 mM respectively. Those results prove that the new design is an effective and economical approach which can improve sensitivity and repeatability of a PCB based PG-C4D, which indicate a great application potential in agricultural and environmental monitoring. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Lab-on-PCB Devices)

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12 pages, 4099 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Biocompatibility Study of a Commercial Printed Circuit Board for Biomedical Applications: Lab-on-PCB for Organotypic Retina Cultures

by Jesús David Urbano-Gámez, Lourdes Valdés-Sánchez, Carmen Aracil, Berta de la Cerda, Francisco Perdigones, Álvaro Plaza Reyes, Francisco J. Díaz-Corrales, Isabel Relimpio López and José Manuel Quero

Micromachines 2021, 12(12), 1469; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi12121469 - 29 Nov 2021

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2566

Abstract

Printed circuit board (PCB) technology is well known, reliable, and low-cost, and its application to biomedicine, which implies the integration of microfluidics and electronics, has led to Lab-on-PCB. However, the biocompatibility of the involved materials has to be examined if they are in contact with biological elements. In this paper, the solder mask (PSR-2000 CD02G/CA-25 CD01, Taiyo Ink (Suzhou) Co., Ltd., Suzhou, China) of a commercial PCB has been studied for retinal cultures. For this purpose, retinal explants have been cultured over this substrate, both on open and closed systems, with successful results. Cell viability data shows that the solder mask has no cytotoxic effect on the culture allowing the application of PCB as the substrate of customized microelectrode arrays (MEAs). Finally, a comparative study of the biocompatibility of the 3D printer Uniz zSG amber resin has also been carried out. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Lab-on-PCB Devices)

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14 pages, 3097 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Isothermal Recombinase Polymerase Amplification (RPA) of E. coli gDNA in Commercially Fabricated PCB-Based Microfluidic Platforms

by Maria Georgoutsou-Spyridonos, Myrto Filippidou, Georgia D. Kaprou, Dimitrios C. Mastellos, Stavros Chatzandroulis and Angeliki Tserepi

Micromachines 2021, 12(11), 1387; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi12111387 - 12 Nov 2021

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 2484

Abstract

Printed circuit board (PCB) technology has been recently proposed as a convenient platform for seamlessly integrating electronics and microfluidics in the same substrate, thus facilitating the introduction of integrated and low-cost microfluidic devices to the market, thanks to the inherent upscaling potential of the PCB industry. Herein, a microfluidic chip, encompassing on PCB both a meandering microchannel and microheaters to accommodate recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA), is designed and commercially fabricated for the first time on PCB. The developed microchip is validated for RPA-based amplification of two E. coli target genes compared to a conventional thermocycler. The RPA performance of the PCB microchip was found to be well-comparable to that of a thermocycler yet with a remarkably lower power consumption (0.6 W). This microchip is intended for seamless integration with biosensors in the same PCB substrate for the development of a point-of-care (POC) molecular diagnostics platform. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Lab-on-PCB Devices)

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12 pages, 5555 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Semi-Automatic Lab-on-PCB System for Agarose Gel Preparation and Electrophoresis for Biomedical Applications

by Jesús David Urbano-Gámez, Francisco Perdigones and José Manuel Quero

Micromachines 2021, 12(9), 1071; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi12091071 - 02 Sep 2021

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 3399

Abstract

In this paper, a prototype of a semi-automatic lab-on-PCB for agarose gel preparation and electrophoresis is developed. The dimensions of the device are 38 × 34 mm

^{2}

and it includes a conductivity sensor for detecting the TAE buffer (Tris-acetate-EDTA buffer), a microheater [...] Read more.

In this paper, a prototype of a semi-automatic lab-on-PCB for agarose gel preparation and electrophoresis is developed. The dimensions of the device are 38 × 34 mm

^{2}

and it includes a conductivity sensor for detecting the TAE buffer (Tris-acetate-EDTA buffer), a microheater for increasing the solubility of the agarose, a negative temperature coefficient (NTC) thermistor for controlling the temperature, a light dependent resistor (LDR) sensor for measuring the transparency of the mixture, and two electrodes for performing the electrophoresis. The agarose preparation functions are governed by a microcontroller. The device requires a PMMA structure to define the wells of the agarose gel, and to release the electrodes from the agarose. The maximum voltage and current that the system requires are 40 V to perform the electrophoresis, and 1 A for activating the microheater. The chosen temperature for mixing is 80

^{\circ}

C, with a mixing time of 10 min. In addition, the curing time is about 30 min. This device is intended to be integrated as a part of a larger lab-on-PCB system for DNA amplification and detection. However, it can be used to migrate DNA amplified in conventional thermocyclers. Moreover, the device can be modified for preparing larger agarose gels and performing electrophoresis. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Lab-on-PCB Devices)

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13 pages, 3157 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Utilising Commercially Fabricated Printed Circuit Boards as an Electrochemical Biosensing Platform

by Uroš Zupančič, Joshua Rainbow, Pedro Estrela and Despina Moschou

Micromachines 2021, 12(7), 793; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi12070793 - 03 Jul 2021

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 3254

Abstract

Printed circuit boards (PCBs) offer a promising platform for the development of electronics-assisted biomedical diagnostic sensors and microsystems. The long-standing industrial basis offers distinctive advantages for cost-effective, reproducible, and easily integrated sample-in-answer-out diagnostic microsystems. Nonetheless, the commercial techniques used in the fabrication of PCBs produce various contaminants potentially degrading severely their stability and repeatability in electrochemical sensing applications. Herein, we analyse for the first time such critical technological considerations, allowing the exploitation of commercial PCB platforms as reliable electrochemical sensing platforms. The presented electrochemical and physical characterisation data reveal clear evidence of both organic and inorganic sensing electrode surface contaminants, which can be removed using various pre-cleaning techniques. We demonstrate that, following such pre-treatment rules, PCB-based electrodes can be reliably fabricated for sensitive electrochemical biosensors. Herein, we demonstrate the applicability of the methodology both for labelled protein (procalcitonin) and label-free nucleic acid (E. coli-specific DNA) biomarker quantification, with observed limits of detection (LoD) of 2 pM and 110 pM, respectively. The proposed optimisation of surface pre-treatment is critical in the development of robust and sensitive PCB-based electrochemical sensors for both clinical and environmental diagnostics and monitoring applications. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Lab-on-PCB Devices)

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9 pages, 3229 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Microfluidics Integration into Low-Noise Multi-Electrode Arrays

by Mafalda Ribeiro, Pamela Ali, Benjamin Metcalfe, Despina Moschou and Paulo R. F. Rocha

Micromachines 2021, 12(6), 727; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi12060727 - 20 Jun 2021

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2907

Abstract

Organ-on-Chip technology is commonly used as a tool to replace animal testing in drug development. Cells or tissues are cultured on a microchip to replicate organ-level functions, where measurements of the electrical activity can be taken to understand how the cell populations react to different drugs. Microfluidic structures are integrated in these devices to replicate more closely an in vivo microenvironment. Research has provided proof of principle that more accurate replications of the microenvironment result in better micro-physiological behaviour, which in turn results in a higher predictive power. This work shows a transition from a no-flow (static) multi-electrode array (MEA) to a continuous-flow (dynamic) MEA, assuring a continuous and homogeneous transfer of an electrolyte solution across the measurement chamber. The process through which the microfluidic system was designed, simulated, and fabricated is described, and electrical characterisation of the whole structure under static solution and a continuous flow rate of 80 µL/min was performed. The latter reveals minimal background disturbance, with a background noise below 30 µVpp for all flow rates and areas. This microfluidic MEA, therefore, opens new avenues for more accurate and long-term recordings in Organ-on-Chip systems. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Lab-on-PCB Devices)

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Review

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33 pages, 22884 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperEditor’s ChoiceReview

Printed Circuit Boards: The Layers’ Functions for Electronic and Biomedical Engineering

by Francisco Perdigones and José Manuel Quero

Micromachines 2022, 13(3), 460; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi13030460 - 17 Mar 2022

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 10986

Abstract

This paper describes the fabrication opportunities that Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs) offer for electronic and biomedical engineering. Historically, PCB substrates have been used to support the components of the electronic devices, linking them using copper lines, and providing input and output pads to connect the rest of the system. In addition, this kind of substrate is an emerging material for biomedical engineering thanks to its many interesting characteristics, such as its commercial availability at a low cost with very good tolerance and versatility, due to its multilayer characteristics; that is, the possibility of using several metals and substrate layers. The alternative uses of copper, gold, Flame Retardant 4 (FR4) and silver layers, together with the use of vias, solder masks and a rigid and flexible substrate, are noted. Among other uses, these characteristics have been using to develop many sensors, biosensors and actuators, and PCB-based lab-on chips; for example, deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) amplification devices for Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR). In addition, several applications of these devices are going to be noted in this paper, and two tables summarizing the layers’ functions are included in the discussion: the first one for metallic layers, and the second one for the vias, solder mask, flexible and rigid substrate functions. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Lab-on-PCB Devices)

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23 pages, 28876 KiB

Open AccessReview

Lab-on-PCB and Flow Driving: A Critical Review

by Francisco Perdigones

Micromachines 2021, 12(2), 175; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi12020175 - 10 Feb 2021

Cited by 21 | Viewed by 5481

Abstract

Lab-on-PCB devices have been developed for many biomedical and biochemical applications. However, much work has to be done towards commercial applications. Even so, the research on devices of this kind is rapidly increasing. The reason for this lies in the great potential of lab-on-PCB devices to provide marketable devices. This review describes the active flow driving methods for lab-on-PCB devices, while commenting on their main characteristics. Among others, the methods described are the typical external impulsion devices, that is, syringe or peristaltic pumps; pressurized microchambers for precise displacement of liquid samples; electrowetting on dielectrics; and electroosmotic and phase-change-based flow driving, to name a few. In general, there is not a perfect method because all of them have drawbacks. The main problems with regard to marketable devices are the complex fabrication processes, the integration of many materials, the sealing process, and the use of many facilities for the PCB-chips. The larger the numbers of integrated sensors and actuators in the PCB-chip, the more complex the fabrication. In addition, the flow driving-integrated devices increase that difficulty. Moreover, the biological applications are demanding. They require transparency, biocompatibility, and specific ambient conditions. All the problems have to be solved when trying to reach repetitiveness and reliability, for both the fabrication process and the working of the lab-on-PCB, including the flow driving system. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Lab-on-PCB Devices)

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