EWOD Digital Microfluidics for Lab on a Chip

This paper presents a brief overview of Electro Wetting On Dielectric (EWOD) microdroplet actuation technology fluidic behaviour. EWOD specifics are compared with other digital microfluidics actuation modes. In particular ease of integration with complex protocols is emphasized. After reviewing the electro-wetting principle and various Electro-Hydro-Dynamic (EHD) phenomena; we compare various EWOD configurations for Lab on a Chip. Two fluid functionalities will be detailed: on-chip droplet dispensing, and mixing. We cover chip architecture and the benefits of organizing these chips as fludic microprocessors. Finally, real time PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) within a 64 nl droplet is described as an illustration of a biological application using EWOD.