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US 9,561,650 B2Granted
Microfluidic die with multiple heaters in a chamber
AssigneeSTMicroelectronics S.r.l.
InventorsDomenico Giusti, Daniele Prati
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The present disclosure is directed to a microfluidic die that includes a first larger heater and a second smaller heater is a single chamber. The first heater is configured to form a primary bubble that ejects fluid from a nozzle associated with the chamber. The second heater is configured to form a secondary bubble to prevent blow back caused when the primary bubble bursts and ejects fluid from the nozzle. The first and second heater may be coupled to a single input trace and a single ground trace.
Claims22
A method, comprising:
- ejecting fluid from a chamber through a nozzle in a microfluidic die;
- minimizing blow back of the fluid into a channel from the chamber, the minimizing including:
- activating a first heater and a second heater in the chamber, the second heater being positioned closer to the channel than the first heater;
- and
- forming a first bubble with the first heater and a second bubble with the second heater in the chamber.
2 more elements
A system, comprising:
- a microfluidic die that includes:
- a substrate;
- a plurality of first heaters;
- a plurality of second heaters;
- a plurality of chambers on the substrate, each chamber on the die corresponding to an area on the substrate, one of the first heaters and one of the second heaters being formed in each area;
- and
- a number of contact pads, the number of contact pads being smaller than the number of chambers.
4 more elements
A device, comprising:
- a substrate;
- a plurality of pairs of chambers on the substrate, each chamber corresponding to an area on the substrate, a first heater and a second heater being formed in each area;
- and
- a plurality of contact pads on the substrate, each pair of chambers being coupled to one of the plurality of contact pads, a number of the contact pads being smaller than a number of the chambers.
1 more element
A system, comprising:
- a microfluidic die having a substrate and passive electrical elements on the substrate, the passive electrical elements including:
- a first number of first heaters;
- a second number of second heaters, the second number being equal to the first number;
- a third number of chambers, the third number being equal to the first number, each chamber on the die corresponding to one of the first heaters and one of the second heaters;
- a fourth number of drive contact pads, the fourth number being equal to half of the third number, each drive contact pad coupled to a pair of chambers of the third number of chambers, and each drive contact pad configured to drive two of the first heaters and two of the second heaters;
- and
- a ground contact pad coupled to each of the first number of first heaters and each of the second number of second heaters, each pair of chambers being driven with only the ground contact pad and one of the drive contact pads.
4 more elements
A system, comprising:
- a microfluidic die having a substrate and passive electrical elements on the substrate, the passive electrical elements including:
- a plurality of chambers;
- a plurality of first heaters, each chamber including one of the plurality of first heaters;
- a plurality of second heaters, each chamber including one of the plurality of second heaters;
- a plurality of first contact pads on the substrate, each first contact pad coupled to a first one of the plurality of first heaters and a second one of the plurality of first heaters, the first one of the plurality of first heaters and the second one of the plurality of first heaters corresponding to adjacent chambers of the plurality of chambers;
- and
- a plurality of second contact pads, each second contact pad coupled to a first one of the plurality of second heaters and a second one of the plurality of second heaters, the first one of the plurality of second heaters being in a same chamber as the first one of the plurality of first heaters and the second one of the plurality of second heaters being in a same chamber as the second one of the plurality of first heaters.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.