Figure 3.

Aliquot stretching using different channel designs. (a) Three chip designs are the same except for the channel separating two sorting junctions. (b) Three designs of the channel separating two sorting junctions by AutoCAD. From top to bottom: basic straight channel, adding “flow sharers”, adding “flow sharers” and herringbone structures. Except for the small narrow channels in the “flow sharer” designs, the width of the straight channels was around 200 μm and the height was kept the same for each design (i.e., 50 μm). The scale bar is 3 mm. (c) APD traces of aliquots containing PE dye and yellow fluorescent beads triggering sorting events at the first sorting junction, were recorded at the second detection line. The duration of the PE signal of one aliquot at the second detection line was used as an indicator of the degree of aliquot stretching.