A flexible sample introduction method for polymer microfluidic chips using a push/pull pressure pump.

A push/pull sample introduction method based on push/pull pressure flow for microfluidic systems (cross, double T and multichannel structures) is presented. This leads to well-defined and controllable sample plugs even when dealing with long channels. By tuning the relative push/pull pressure, it is shown that the size of the sample plug can effectively be controlled. Good signal reproducibility upon continued sample introduction and subsequent chip electrophoresis employing fluorescence detection is demonstrated for different chip geometries (i.e. short channels and long channels). Since the performance of the method is relatively insensitive to chip geometry, it is particularly useful for polymeric prototype microchips as tedious optimization is not required. Furthermore, the push/pull sample introduction is extended to multichannel chips thus demonstrating the possibilities of applying the methodology for realizing single chip high throughput sample analysis.