Manufacturing of Lab-On-a-Chip devices : variation analysis of liquid delivery using blister packs

Abstract

Components for on-chip storage and delivery of liquid reagent are necessary for many commercial applications of lab-on-a-chip technology. One such system uses a 'blister pack' that is pushed by an actuator. Over the course of product development, Daktari Diagnostics had completed nominal design of a blister pack for their flow rate requirements. This work involved performing a thorough variation analysis of the blister pack to determine the critical sources of variation. For this purpose, the tool of variation simulation modeling (VSM) was used. A numerical model of the blister performance was developed and Monte Carlo simulations were conducted. The results showed that this fluid delivery technique is robust and the number of out-of-specification parts was less than 2%. The critical blister pack parameters that must be controlled were also determined and these can be used to improve process capability.