Patent ID: 6919058

Claim:
A microfluidic device comprising a microchannel structure in which there are one or more inlet ports, one or more outlet ports, and one or more structural units wherein said structural unit comprises: (a) a retaining microcavity which is located between one of said one or more inlet ports and one of said one or more outlet ports; (b) a mixing unit which is located upstream the retaining microcavity and downstream one of said inlet ports; (c) two or more microconduits directly connected to the retaining microcavity and communicating with one of said inlet or outlet ports; wherein one or more of said microconduits comprise anti-wicking means in association with the joint between the retaining microcavity and the microconduit and/or the distance (d 1 ) from the retaining microcavity to an opening to ambient atmosphere and including a microconduit that lacks anti-wicking means and is directly attached to the retaining microcavity, is ≧20 times the largest inner cross-sectional dimension of the microconduit at its joint to the retaining microcavity.