Project
Large area droplet manipulation and analysis for life science applications
One of the current challenges in life sciences is the complex laboratory infrastructure needed to realize bio-essays which is static and costly. This vulnerability is felt the most in health-related bio-essays where the experiments need to be performed as close to the patient as possible, also known as point-of-care (POTC) applications. Digital microfluidics (DMF) is one of the candidates regarded as the future of bio-essays for both lab-on-a-chip (LoC) and POTC applications. The reason being that DMF has started to exploit thin film transistor (TFT) stacks well suited for the fabrication of active-matrix (AM) Electrowetting on Dielectric (EWOD) systems which are already capable of basic droplet manipulation and can cover large areas for a fraction of the cost compared to more popular CMOS technologies. AM-EWOD, however, is still being developed and therefore more complex pixel functions as well as read-out circuits that can analyze the components and/or progress of said bio-essays are yet to be explored. This thesis will delve into the possibility of increasing the functionality of the TFT-based AM-EWOD circuits such as the pixel circuits of the AM and/or the readout circuits in its periphery. The aim is to showcase the way towards improved bio-essays for life science applications.