Maximizing particle concentration in deterministic lateral displacement arrays

We present an improvement to deterministic lateral displacement arrays, which allows higher particle concentration enhancement. We correct and extend previous equations to a mirror-symmetric boundary. This approach allows particles to be concentrated into a central channel, no wider than the surrounding gaps, thereby maximizing the particle enrichment. The resulting flow patterns were, for the first time, experimentally measured. The performance of the device with hard micro-spheres and cells was investigated. The observed flow patterns show important differences from our model and from an ideal pattern. The 18 μm gap device showed 11-fold enrichment of 7 μm particles and nearly perfect enrichment—of more than 50-fold—for 10 μm particles and Jurkat cells. This work shows a clear path to achieve higher-than-ever particle concentration enhancement in a deterministic microfluidic separation system.