Microfluidics with wirelessly powered electronic circuits

A method of isolating a subpopulation of particles suspended in a fluid, the method comprising:

• flowing a fluid with suspended particles through an inlet of a fluidic channel in a microfluidic device, the fluidic channel having a pair of electrodes positioned near the inlet and at an outlet of the fluidic channel;
• applying an alternating current (AC) voltage to the pair of electrodes to guide the particles toward a center of the fluidic channel using negative dielectrophoresis (DEP) effect;
• and
• applying AC voltages of different frequencies at different ones of additional electrodes positioned along a border of the fluidic channel between the pairs of electrodes to isolate a subpopulation of the particles using positive and negative DEP effects.

A microfluidic device, comprising:

• a substrate having a fluidic channel with an inlet to receive a fluid with particles suspended in the fluid and one or more sheath flow inlets to receive sheath flow;
• at least one pair of electrodes positioned near the inlet, the at least one pair of electrodes configured to electrophoretically separate suspended particles when supplied with a direct current (DC) voltage;
• and
• a series of electrodes arranged along the fluidic channel, the series of electrodes configured to sort the separated particles using positive and negative dielectrophoresis (DEP) effect when supplied with alternating current (AC) voltages at different frequencies.

A method of sorting particles in a microfluidic device, the method comprising:

• introducing a fluidic sample comprising suspended particles through a sample inlet of a fluidic channel in the microfluidic device;
• introducing a sheath flow through one or more sheath flow inlets;
• separating the particles electrophoretically by direct-current (DC) biasing two pairs of electrodes near the sample inlet;
• sorting the separated particles using negative and positive dielectrophoresis (DEP) effects using a series of electrodes arranged along the fluidic channel, wherein at least one pair of electrodes within the series of electrodes receives an AC voltage at a frequency that is different from AC voltage frequency received by another electrode in the series of electrodes.

A microfluidic device, comprising:

• a substrate having a fluidic channel with a sample inlet to receive a sample solution with suspended particles and a sheath flow inlet, the sample inlet and the sheath flow inlet arranged with respect to each other to allow sheath flow into the fluidic channel and to confine at least a portion of the suspended particles in a lower part of the fluidic channel before a sorting junction;
• a pair of electrodes positioned near the sample inlet and configured to generate a non-uniform field to direct particles experiencing a negative dielectrophoresis (DEP) effect into an upper chamber and to direct particles subject to a positive DEP effect into a lower chamber;
• and
• one or more parallel array of electrodes configured to further subdivide the particles within each chamber using a traveling DEP force generated in response to voltages of different phases applied to different electrodes of a given parallel array of electrodes.

A method of sorting particles, comprising:

• receiving a sample fluid with suspended particles at a sample inlet of a fluidic channel;
• receiving a sheath flow from a sheath flow inlet arranged with respect to the sample inlet to confine at least a portion of the suspended particles in a lower part of the fluidic channel before a sorting junction;
• generating a non-uniform field at a pair of electrodes near the sample inlet to direct particles experiencing a negative dielectrophoresis (DEP) effect into an upper chamber and direct cells subject to a positive DEP effect into a lower chamber;
• and
• subdividing the particles using a traveling DEP force generated by one or more parallel array of electrodes by applying voltages of different phases to different electrodes of a given parallel array of electrodes.

A microfluidic device, comprising:

• a substrate patterned to form one or more channels to carry fluids;
• microfluidic components formed on the substrate and structured to control a fluidic flow in the one or more channels;
• and
• a circuit formed on the substrate and electrically coupled to one or more of the microfluidic components to supply electrical power to the one or more of the microfluidic components, the circuit including an antenna to wirelessly receive an electromagnetic wave signal and to use the wirelessly received electromagnetic wave signal to generate the supplied electrical power to the one or more of the microfluidic components.