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The microfluidics industry is growing rapidly. It faces many challenges and questions about how it will become a successful and profitable means of advancing development in science. A key success factor for this industry will be to develop efficient research methods; ultimately, developing a reliable way to achieve efficiency and superior test results through a standard metrology infrastructure. Today test fixtures are handcrafted one at a time in the experimentation and testing phase and permit no subsequent modifications.

The term microfluidics is generally used to describe any technology that moves microscopic and nano-scale quantities of fluid through channels on a Micro Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS). Microfluidic devices can be characterized by their capability to accurately manipulate minute volumes of fluid (mostly liquids) well below the microliter range.

 

One of the key drivers of growth for the field of microfluidics is the decrease in sample and reagent volumes used for a reaction that simultaneously reduces the cost per experiment and the time per reaction. By significantly reducing the time and cost per test, microfluidic-based devices are a key element of pharmaceutical drug discovery and bioscience research today. The lowered cost of research is driving rapid growth in the number of startups working in these segments. This area of science is in the early stage of growth and has the potential to enable technologies in more areas than just life sciences. 

 

However, to continue to grow, microfluidics will require precision metrology.

 

The rapid advancement of the microfluidics industry can be said to mirror that of the semiconductor industry in the early 1990s, where trends of smaller and faster devices drove rapid innovation throughout the electronics industry. The microfluidic discipline is at a stage that parallels the semiconductor industry 16 years ago. This is a need for precision metrology to advance the widespread adoption of the science. Much like semiconductor, microfluidic research can benefit from standardization of test material, measurement techniques and process characterization and development procedures.