Designing Microfluidics for Manufacturability, Not Just Physics

Microfluidic design conversations tend to start with flow physics and end at the tolerance stack. The programs that scale reverse that order.\n\nChannel geometry that relies on sub-10-micron precision across a full wafer will produce yield problems at volume, no matter how elegant the separation is. Reagent storage that assumes cold chain will fail somewhere in distribution. Bonding methods that work in a lab press behave differently on a production line.\n\nWe design to three constraints from day one: a tolerance budget that assumes injection-molded reality, dry reagent storage wherever chemistry permits, and a bonding process already qualified at the intended volume.\n\nThe cost is some analytical headroom. The benefit is a device that reaches patients.