Spatial continuous-flow polymerase chain reaction structure controlled by single-temperature driver

Abstract

A spatial continuous-flow polymerase chain reaction microfluidic chip was designed with the traditional plane channel replaced by a vertical-cavity channel by a single-temperature driver. To optimize the design, the temperature distribution in the microchannel of this chip was simulated by the finite-element method with various structural parameters and fluid velocities. The results show that the fluid produces three temperature zones of 94–95, 54–56, and 71–73 °C when the chip size is 54 mm (x) × 78 mm (y) × 47 mm (z), the wall thickness is 2 mm (x) × 20 mm (y) × 2 mm (z), and the pipe diameter is 1 mm. To increase the polymerase chain reaction amplification efficiency, we considered fluid velocities in the range of 0.0005–0.002 m/s. The optimal temperature for polymerase chain reaction amplification occurs at a fluid velocity of 0.0005 m/s.