Design-for-reliability and on-the-fly fault tolerance procedure for paper-based digital microfluidic biochips with multiple faults

• Published in: Integration (Amsterdam) 2023-03, Vol.89, p.185-196
• Main Authors: Li, Jian-De, Wang, Sying-Jyan, Li, Katherine Shu-Min, Ho, Tsung-Yi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Design-for-reliability; Fault tolerance; On-the-fly; Paper-based digital microfluidic biochip
• ISSN: 0167-9260
• DOI: 10.1016/j.vlsi.2022.11.013

Paper-based digital microfluidic biochips (PB-DMFBs) have emerged as the most promising solution to biochemical applications in resource-limited regions. However, like silicon chips, the reliability of PB-DMFBs is affected by physical defects. Even worse, since electrodes, conductive wires, and droplet routings are entangled on the same layer, multiple faults may occur simultaneously. Such faults not only cause waste of samples and human resource but also affect the correctness of the diagnostics. In this paper, we propose a reliability scheme with emphasis on design-for-reliability (DfR) and probability-based fault tolerance to ensure the correct functionality of PB-DMFBs with multiple faults. •Multiple fault assumption is considered for electrode open fault and wire open fault models.•Design-for-Reliability design flow is proposed for alternative droplet paths to bypass the faulty electrodes.•On-the-fly fault tolerance procedure is proposed to tolerate the faulty electrodes.•The proposed procedure has the least dependence on sensors for fault tolerance automation.