PC board-based polymerase chain reaction systems, methods and materials

1. An apparatus for performing a Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR), the apparatus comprising

a PCR chamber for performing a Polymerase Chain Reaction and

a printed circuit board (PCB) fluidic device,

wherein the PCR chamber is a fluidic chamber and is located in the printed circuit board (PCB) fluidic device.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the size of the PCR chamber is in a microliter range.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the PCR chamber is connected to PCR fluidic ports.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the printed circuit board (PCB) fluidic device includes a multilayer flex-on-rigid backing arrangement comprising flex layers.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the PCR chamber is contained within the flex layers, and thereby surrounded by the flex layers.

6. The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the flex layers are made of Kapton compatible with the PCR.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein a basement is located beneath the PCR chamber, wherein the basement contains electronic circuit board traces.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 , further containing a heater for heating the PCR chamber.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the heater for heating the PCR chamber is a coil trace located beneath the PCR chamber for heating reactants of the PCR.

10. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the basement is a flame retardant 4 (FR-4) based construction.

11. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein a cooler for cooling the PCR chamber is a structurally separated device with respect from the heater.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the cooler is a fan.

13. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a PCR temperature controller having a temperature sensing device, the PCR temperature controller being associated to the PCR chamber for sensing and controlling temperature in the PCR chamber.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the temperature sensing device includes a temperature sensing component located in a top region, or in a bottom region, of the printed circuit board (PCB) fluidic device to sense a temperature of the PCR chamber.

15. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the temperature sensing device includes surface mount technology (SMT) devices bonded directly onto a top portion of the PCR chamber.

16. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the temperature sensing device includes a sensitive resistance measurement circuit which is configured to use a temperature coefficient of resistivity (TCR) of coil trace beneath the PCR chamber to measure the chamber temperature.

17. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the PCR temperature controller is a fixed-point proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller.

18. The apparatus of claim 17 , wherein the fixed-point PID controller is configured to employ one or more of the following components: nonlinearity correction, actuator asymmetry correction, anti-windup, low pass filter, and software decimation techniques.

19. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein:

the PCB fluidic device comprises a plurality of flex layers,

the PCR chamber is formed between two flex layers of the plurality of flex layers, and the heater is formed in a flex layer of the plurality of flex layers adjacent to one of the two flex layers.

20. A multilayer printed circuit board (PCB) used for performing a Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR), the multilayer printed circuit board comprising:

a plurality of flex layers configured to house a fluidic PCR chamber and a heating element; and

a basement layer configured to house electronic components and traces.

21. The multilayer PCB of claim 20 , wherein:

the fluidic PCR chamber is formed between two flex layers of the plurality of flex layers, and

the heating element is formed in a flex layer of the plurality of flex layers adjacent to one of the two flex layers.