SAW Technology can be used for pumping, dosing and mixing of reagents in low volumes.

Surface Acoustic Waves (SAW) are not only used for mixing liquids in low volume applications but also for pumping and dosing of different reagents. These precise volumes can be pre-metered using the microfluidic design of low-cost plastic disposables. Of course alternative materials such as glass can also be used.

The dosed volume can be controlled with high precision by the electrical power applied to the SAW-pump. After dosing to a defined ratio, the reagents in the reaction volume are homogenised by SAW–mixing. For detection the disposable chip can be easily coupled with standard optical detection devices including colourimeters or fluorescence microscopes. This opens up new possibilities for cost-efficient diagnostic applications.