Channel Routing for Microfluidic Devices: A Comprehensive and Accessible Design Tool

Microfluidics is a technology that enables moving analytic processes from expensive and bulky laboratory equipment to small-scale devices. Microfluidic devices, usually in the form of labs-on-a-chips (LoCs), have found many great applications in medicine, biology, and chemistry. In particular, LoCs that utilize channels to transport fluids or droplets between different components on the chip are a promising technology. However, the design process of such channel-based LoCs is in need of further automation efforts since the underlying design steps are still rather complex and conducted mainly by hand. An important task in microfluidic design automation is the so-called channel routing, where components on LoCs are connected by microfluidic channels. Methods that aim to automate this routing task must factor in the specific demands of microfluidic devices. Common requirements for microfluidic routing layouts are to prevent sharp channel bends and to realize a particular length of channels. Unfortunately, most of the available routing algorithms address these requirements only partly and insufficiently. In this work, we propose a router that is able to overcome these shortcomings and allows automatic channel routing with a minimal bending radius as well as a desired length. In order to make the router accessible to users with little to no design automation expertise, the solution is implemented as an online tool with a user-friendly and intuitive interface. The resulting tool can be accessed at https://www.cda.cit.tum.de/research/microfluidics/channel_router/.