Microchannel-based capillary microfluidics: From
simple networks to capillaric circuits
Oriol Ymbern, Philippe Lenzen, Ayokunle Olanrewaju, Arya Tavakoli, Mohamed Yafia and David Juncker
Department of Biomedical Engineering
McGill University
Montreal, QC, Canada
david.juncker@mcgill.ca
Microfluidics and lab-on-a-chip devices demonstrated the
potential advantages for the automation of laboratory workflows
and the reduction of sample consumption, reaction time, and
assay costs. Capillary microfluidics overcome the limitations of
'lab-around-a-chip' by permitting a pre-programmed liquid
delivery and flow control to be embedded in the chip without the
need for complex peripheral equipment. In this presentation, we
chart the progress of microchannel-based capillary microfluidics,
from the early stages of the cleanroom environment to the state-
of-the-art in rapid prototyping. Following recent progress, we
have introduced a new terminology – capillaric circuit (CC) –
that both reflects the advances and provides a clear and distinct
vocabulary that overcomes the ambiguity due to the multiple
usage of the word “capillary” . We briefly describe the governing
parameters of self-filling microchannel-based microfluidics CC,
and, by analogy with electronic circuits, the deconstruction of
CCs into basic fluidic elements and components. The library of
basic capillaric elements is expanding. 3D printing enables rapid
production of fully functional CCs, establishing CCs as a
powerful increasingly complex microfluidic technology that can
serve diverse applications.
Capillaric circuits; capillary microfluidics; 3D-printing
I. INTRODUCTION
Microfluidics emerged as a powerful tool in biomedical
research because of its advantages such as low consumption of
samples and reagents, and ease of automation and
parallelization of laboratory workflows by means of efficient
mass and/or heat transfer, functionalized surfaces and reaction
chambers [1, 2]. Capillary microfluidics, a free-peripheral
equipment discipline, is empowering the field making it
particularly attractive for point-of-care applications. It is
important to highlight the role that paper-based microfluidics
has played in the expansion and recognition of capillary
microfluidics in the last decade for low-cost point-of-care and
its global health implications. However, the purpose of this
presentation is not to focus on porous capillary microfluidics,
which has been reviewed elsewhere [3], but to focus on
microchannel-based capillary microfluidics and show how this
particular field has evolved in the last decades.
Early microchannel-based capillary microfluidics emerged
in parallel with micro total analysis systems (μTAS) benefiting
from the advances in microfabrication technologies and
permitting the development of silicon and polymers
microfluidic networks with micrometer accuracy. It was in this
context that the term capillary was initially proposed [4]. The
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so-called autonomous capillary microfluidic systems
empowered by the capillary phenomena, implemented
sequential delivery of liquids for pre-programmed
imunoassays. [5, 6] These fluidic unit operations and
laboratory workflows, born in cleanroom environments laid the
groundwork for the current advances in microchannel-based
capillary microfluidics.
More recently, we are leading the proposal of the term
capillaric circuits (CCs) in order to reflect the evolution of in
the field of microchannel-based capillary microfluidics [7].
Moreover, the term is also proposed in order to distinguish
from porous materials and paper-based capillary microfluidics
and to articulate the idea of a fluidic circuit composed of basic
fluidic elements, as an analogy of electronic circuits. Over
recent years we have demonstrated the increasingly complex
fluid handling capabilities of CCs [8, 9]. By growing the
toolbox of capillaric elements, these self-powered devices have
exhibited a large potential for biomedical applications.
II. FUNDAMENTAL CONCEPTS
Capillary pressure governs liquid flow in capillary channel-
based microfluidics and depends on the surface chemistry and
geometry of the microchannels, which are normally rectangular
due to microfabrication techniques. Self-filling capillaric
circuits use negative capillary pressure for the regulation of
fluid flow. When the interface between the liquid and the
microchannel surface has a contact angle < 90 º, these surfaces
are considered wettable and this characteristic is used for their
self-filling. The relation between capillary pressure, contact
angle, and microchannel size is described by the Young-
Laplace equation and can be expressed for a rectangular
microchannel as:
(1)
where P is the capillary pressure,
is the surface tension of
liquid in the microchannel, h, and w, are the channel height and
width respectively, and

are the different microchannels wall
contact angles. For a proper operation of CCs, practical
considerations regarding contact angles and microchannels
geometries are required. Capillary pressure and liquid flow
within CCs can be adjusted by tuning the cross-section of the
microchannels. Moreover, surface chemistry and the use of
heterogeneous materials affect wall contact angles, which are handling of liquids inside the systems and regulate the flow,
preferred below 60º to ensure a high yield of operative CCs. which can be tuned by adjusting fluidic geometries and surface
chemistry. Moreover flow resistors can act as fluidic mixers
Other practical considerations regarding the capillaric
and the different types of valves govern the liquid stops, and
circuits have to be taken into account. When designing CCs, drainage in pre-programmed sequential deliveries. In addition,
flow rate, Q, and flow resistance, R, must be optimised for
other basic elements are also required, such as reservoirs to
efficient liquid delivery and analysis time. By solving Navier- meter precise reagents and sample volumes, or inlets and air
Stokes equations, the flow rate Q for a flat and wide channel
vents to fill them into the system.
can be calculated, depending on the difference in capillary
pressure (P) and the length of the liquid plug across the
microchannel, as:

(2) (1)

The overall resistance, affecting the flow rate, is influenced

by the smallest cross-section and the fluidic resistance
increases as the microchannel fills. The flow resistance within
a microchannel, R, can be calculated following electrical
circuits analogy as:

(3) (1))

III. ELEMENTS OF CAPILLARIC CIRCUITS

The term capillarics – by analogy with electronics – refers
to capillary-based microfluidics built by combining capillaric
components. Table 1 shows the different capillaric elements
and their symbols created to facilitate the design of capillaric
circuits on demand [7, 9], such a capillaric circuit for
sequential delivery of 8 different reagents shown in Fig. 1.

TABLE I. SYMBOLIC REPRESENTATION OF CAPILLARIC ELEMENTS

Capillaric circuits fluidic elements
Name Symbol Name Symbol

Capillary Pump Stop Valve

Microchannel Capillary Trigger Valve

Inlet Capillary Soft

Air vent Capillary Retention Valve

Fig. 1. Schematic (left) and symbolic (right) representactions of a capillaric

Reservoir Retention Burst Valve
circuit brokedown into its different capillary fluidic elements: Inlets and vents,
capillary pump, flow resistor, trigger valves, retention valves and retention
Reaction Chamber Delay Valve burst valves.

Flow Resistor Filling Front Guide
Key components to control the liquid flow include capillary
pumps, trigger valves, retention valves, retention burst valves,
and resistors. Capillary pumps are the engine of the capillaric
circuits, and also act as waste reservoirs for the liquids
involved in the microfluidic design. Different approaches, such
as the arborescent (tree line) pump of the early microfluidic
networks can also be combined with porous materials to
increase their capacity. Flow resistors and valves allow the
This library of elements is being constantly updated with
the outcome of novel fluidic research like the newly developed
delay valves, air conduits which act as traps, or serial fuses, for
creating domino microfluidics [10]. The future of capillaric
circuits also goes, by analogy to microelectronics, through the
development of novel elements for the achievement of fluidic
logic gates and operations. Nowadays, CCs can perform fluidic
logic operations, like AND and OR gates. However there is
great interest in sophisticated microfluidic devices capable to
implement more advanced operations, not yet validated like
NOT, NOR, NAND, XOR, and XNOR.

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Fig. 2. A) Tree line pump, reminescent of branching structures in plants and
trees, used for pumping liquid for performing immunoassays. B) Parallel CCs
for multi-step immunoassays consisting of capillary pumps, retention valves,
inlets, patterned reaction chambers on PDMS, and vents. C) Schematic and
operation overviews of a capillaric circuit for performing one-step
immunoassays comprising a reaction chamber, 4 side-arms with retention burst
valves and combined, flow resistors, and two capillary pumps (incubation and
waste). Adapted from: (A) ref. 12 © 2010 Springer, (B) ref. 11 © 2005
WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.
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IV. TO THE RAPID PROTOTYPING OF CAPILLARIC CIRCUITS
Microchannel-based capillary microfluidics has undergone
an evolution over the past two decades, hand in hand with the
advances in microfabrication technology [4-6, 11]. Silicon
microtechnology in cleanroom environments permitted to
develop tree-shaped fluidic networks with, based on capillary
stop valves and capillary pumps down to 10 microns deep, for
immunoassays (Fig. 2 A) [12]. On the other hand, a simpler
and more efficient way to produce microchannel-based
capillary microfluidics, following a single use of cleanroom
facilities consisted in patterning a negative channel network as
photoresist on a Si wafer, and replicate it into soft and
transparent PDMS using soft lithography.
Since our proposal of the term capillary [4] and the first
silicon-based fluidic networks, we increased the toolbox of
capillaric elements of the so-called autonomous capillary
systems incorporating new fluidic operations for sequential
delivery, and we have shown their potential for biomedical and
point-of-care applications (Fig. 2 B and C). [9, 11, 12]
Over the last decades, polymers technology and rapid
prototyping microstructuring techniques overcame expensive
infrastructure and slow design-to-device time associated to
silicon microtechnology microfabrication processes.
Stereolitographic 3D-printing, recently implemented in our
research group, demonstrated to be compatible with capillarics
and provided a fast prototyping of microchannel-based
capillary systems. 3D-printers allows us to fabricate molds for
replication techniques or direct structured devices with in less
than 30 min.
Capillaric circuits could be designed and fabricated with
standardized 3D-printed parts, like electrical circuits, and
combined to meet specific needs. The technology also offers
versatility by the potential compatibility with other
microstructuring techniques like cleanroom microfabrication if
higher resolution manufacturing is required. Moreover, we
have also demonstrated the functionality of capillaric circuits
with channels and reservoirs in the 10 - 100 microliter scale
with a low microfluidic device footprint, overcoming the
limitations of early silicon-based capillary systems.
In a rapid and low-cost prototyping approach, we
developped capillaric circuits with pre-programmed multiple
sequential delivery operations (Fig. 3 ) [8], addressing these
advances for point-of-care diagnostic applications. Examples
are CCs devices (Fig. 3 B) for an ultra rapid and user-friendly
for bacteria detection of urinary tract infection (UTI) [13], or a
platform for the quantification of anti-measles specific
antibodies in blood for vaccine efficacy studies (Fig. 3 C) [14].
V. CONCLUSIONS
Over the past three decades, increasingly advanced
capillaric fluidic elements and circuits have been developed
and applied to clinically-relevant applications. 3D printing
demonstrated to be compatible with the capillarics and now the
advances in fast prototyping of CCs approached the
microchannel-based capillary microfluidics to paper-based and
other porous materials microfluidics. Fast prototyping of CCs
enables modular design and increased accessibility, allowing us
to envisage a future where capillaric elements and circuits are

Fig. 3. A) 3D-printed CC for autonomous delivery of eight liquids:
Schematic representation and time-lapse images showing autonomous
delivery of 8 liquids in the CC. B) Pictures of mold and replica PDMS
capillaric circuit device for bead-based assay immunoassay for bacteria
detection and UTI determination. C) Picture and sequential drainage steps of a
capillaric microfluidic immunoassay device designed to capture anti-measles
IgG.
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designed and fabricated as readily as electrical circuits and
components with standardized parts that can be combined to
meet specific application-dependent needs. CCs may be
applied not only for diagnostics, but also for chemical synthesis
or drug screening and possibly non-biological applications
such as cooling systems.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
We thank NSERC and CIHR for funding. A.O. is grateful
for funding from the NSERC CREATE Integrated Sensor
Systems Training Program, the CIHR Systems Biology
Training Program, the Quebec Merit Scholarship for Foreign
Students (PBEEE), and the MITACS Elevate Industrial
postdoctoral fellowship. D.J. acknowledges a Canada Research
Chair.
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