Advancements and Challenges in Digital Microfluidic Biochip Applications: A Comprehensive Survey

Abstract

Early 1990s, the field of Lab-on-Chip (LoC) has undergone a significant amount of development. The primary goal is to build full biological and chemical laboratories on the surface of silicon or another polymer chip which is driven by technological applications. The latest version of lab-on-a-chip is Digital Micro Fluidic Biochips (DMFB) could run complicated biochemical lab assays (bioprotocols) on a tiny device that fluid samples can be automatically and analyzed with high precision. The DMFB performs various operations on the solution using electrical actuation. These operations include mixing, separating, merging, and washing. Thus, Sample preparation plays a vital role in the DMFB. The process of creating solutions with a desired volume that has been predetermined is known as sample preparation. In most cases, this is accomplished by carrying out a series of activities involving the mixing of several chemical solutions with a specific ratio of volume to total volume. DMFB used these methods for healthcare diagnosis, DNA testing, drug creation, gene sequencing, and more. To test, it only needs a small number of samples and chemicals. The time it took to get the results was 10 times faster than in normal labs. Many algorithms and techniques have been proposed in earlier research. This paper provides a comprehensive analysis of various algorithmic challenges encountered during the implementation of biochemical protocols on a DMFB. We will pay specific attention to a few sample preparations techniques, such as mixing trees, scheduling algorithms, and waste awareness.