Patternable particle microarray utilizing controllable particle delivery

Abstract In this study, we demonstrate an on-demand delivering and sequential arraying of single microparticles utilizing multiple pneumatic pressure-driven elastomer valves and a deterministic particle arraying mechanism. Two types of separate microfluidic devices are combined: (i) a particle transfer device and (ii) a particle arraying device, to construct a desired particle pattern. The elastomer valve integrated in the transfer device acts as a removable particle trap that enables the trapping and on-demand releasing of a particle depending on the application of the pneumatic pressure. The arraying device is composed of highly packed particle trapping sites to deterministically array incoming particles that are released and transferred from a transfer device. Repeating the “trapping-transfer-and-array” sequence can construct an array of different types of particles in a certain pattern. One-dimensional linear and two-dimensional planar microparticle-based patterns were demonstrated using bare and red-fluorescent microparticles.