On Thursday, March 7, and Friday, March 8, 2024, the Microfluidic Association (MFA) held a workshop to discuss the challenges and opportunities around the integration of sensors and electronics in microfluidics. The workshop was hosted and supported by the Belgium Research Institute imec (Interuniversity Microelectronics Centre) and also received support from the EMPIR MFMET project. The workshop was held with the objective of providing input for a shared technology roadmap for the microfluidics industry. With over 100 attendees, mostly from the industry sector, the workshop surpassed the number of attendees at our earlier workshop last November at CETIAT, Lyon. Several integration approaches were discussed, providing input for potential items for the microfluidics technology roadmap, especially with respect to the three core issues: 1) materials (qualification of surfaces, compatibility with organ on chip applications, etc.); 2) testing; and 3) microfluidic connections. Attendees expressed their views and concerns regarding the amount of waste generated by testing and suggested approaches toward the sustainability and reusability for instance by the use of biobased and/or biodegradable materials. Members of the research community mentioned that smaller chip sizes were not covered (yet) in ISO 22916:2022 Microfluidic devices – Interoperability requirements for dimensions, connections and initial device classification. It seems that there is a gap between the waferscale/diescale packaging the electronics industry can offer and the modular approach the microfluidic industry is currently developing. Approaches to bridge that gap should be on the roadmap too.
The results of the workshop will be discussed in the MFA board and will be included in the MFA roadmap. Stay tuned for updates on the report from the workshop and the microfluidics roadmap.