Droplet Size-Aware High-Level Synthesis

Due to the inherent differences between today’s digital microfluidic biochips and micro-electrode-dot-array (MEDA) biochips, existing synthesis solutions for biochemistry mapping cannot be utilized for MEDA biochips. This chapter presents the first synthesis approach that can be used for MEDA biochips. A general analytical model for droplet velocity is proposed and experimentally validated using fabricated MEDA biochips. A synthesis method targeting reservoir placement, operation scheduling, module placement, routing of droplets of various sizes, and diagonal movement of droplets in a two-dimensional array is then presented for MEDA biochips. Simulation results using benchmarks and experimental results using a fabricated MEDA biochip demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed synthesis technique.