A LOW-ASPECT-RATIO, ROLL-TO-ROLL HOT EMBOSSED INERTIAL MICROFLUIDIC SORTER

This work presents a low-aspect-ratio (LAR) inertial microfluidic design compatible with roll-to-roll (R2R) hot embossing for size-based cell or microparticle separation in a low-cost and disposable format. The device consists of two segments of LAR channels in which inertial lift forces are used to differentiate lateral positions based on size for separation downstream. Separation of 18µm and 15µm diameter particles was first demonstrated in a conventional PDMS device, and further validated in a thin-film device mass-produced by R2R embossing. The described LAR inertial microfluidic separator is ideally suited as a low-cost, disposable device for point-of-care sample preparation.