Microfluidics puts big labs on small chips

摘要

By combining minuscule fluid technology with novel support electronics, companies are developing innovative chips for computing, consumer, and biotechnical applications. See what flows when system-on-chip technology morphs into lab-on-chip products. Microfluidics, the movement, control, and measurement of fluids on a micrometer-to-millimeter scale, is proving that smaller is better. Using channels as small as a human hair and fluid quantities as low as a few picoliters, microfluidic-based systems are affecting how companies are attacking challenging pharmaceutical and other biotechnical problems.