Thermally Controlled Lab-on-PCB for Biomedical Applications

This paper reports on the implementation and characterisation of a thermally controlled device for in vitro biomedical applications, based on standard Printed Circuit Board (PCB) technology. This is proposed as a low cost alternative to state-of-the-art microfluidic devices and Lab-on-Chip (LoC) platforms, which we refer to as the thermal Lab-on-PCB concept. In total, six different prototype boards have been manufactured to implement test mini-hotplate arrays. 3D mol-tiphysics software simulations show the thermal response of the modelled mini-hotplate boards to a current-controlled stimulus, highlighting their versatile heating capability. Comparing this with experimental results of the fabricated PCBs demonstrates the combined temperature sensing/heating feature of the mini-hotplate. This can provide a wider temperature range compared to that achieved in typical LoC devices. The thermal system is controllable by means of external off-the-shelf circuitry designed and implemented on a single-channel control board prototype.