Patent ID: 8470262

Claim:
A microfluidic device including a flowchannel in which liquid flows, wherein the flowchannel includes a main channel and a pair of branch channels provided across the main channel from each other to be each connected to the main channel, wherein the main channel includes a first zone, a second zone, and a coupling zone that connects the first zone and the second zone, wherein the second zone is smaller than the first zone in a distance between a bottom surface and a ceiling surface thereof, wherein the coupling zone is configured such that the distance between the bottom surface and the ceiling surface thereof gradually decreases towards the second zone from the first zone, wherein a connection zone provided in the main channel and connected to each of the pair of branch channels overlaps with the coupling zone, and wherein the pair of branch channels are connected to the main channel, at least in a zone in which the connection zone and the coupling zone overlap with each other, by striding across the bottom surface and the ceiling surface of the main channel, respectively wherein a detection unit configured to detect a detection target material contained in liquid flowing in the second zone is provided in the second zone.