Meaning of labs-on-a chip in imicrofluidic devices

Lab-on-a-chip is a concept whereby a microfluidic sample can be optically analysed using integrated optics, allowing spectroscopic and other forms of analysis to be performed using a single substrate (hence the term lab-on-a-chip).

A microfluidic devices is one where fluid is passed through channels with sub-millimetre dimensions.

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"Lab on a chip" refers to the capability of microsystems technology to perform chemical analyses or processes on a chip, the advantage being faster response times, higher resolution, and higher portability/lower power consumption of the diagnostics compared to doing the same processes on a larger scale. Microfluidics provide the means for transporting, mixing and reacting the chemicals in the lab-on-chip device, thus they are often synonymous, although sometimes the term "microfluidics" refers more specifically to the study of mass/fluid/heat transport at the microscale.