We report a detailed study of band broadening in a microfluidic chip for DNA separation by means of electrohydrodynamic viscoelatic migration.

Speeding up and enhancing the performances of nucleic acid biosensing technologies have remained drivers for innovation. Here, we optimize a fluorimetry-based technology for DNA detection based on the concentration of linear targets paired with probes. The concentration module consists of a microfluidic channel with the shape of a funnel in which we monitor a viscoelastic flow and a counter-electrophoretic force. We report that the technology performs better with a target longer than 100 nucleotides (nt) and a probe shorter than 30 nt. We also prove that the control of the funnel geometry in 2.5D using grayscale lithography enhances sensitivity by 100-fold in comparison to chips obtained by conventional photolithography. With these optimized settings, we demonstrate a limit of detection of 4 fM in 30 s and a detection range of more than five decades. This technology hence provides an excellent balance between sensitivity and time to result.