Abstract
The transient thermal behavior of heating in a Lab-on-a-Chip (LoC) system is important for biological processes that require temperature treatment. A technology platform for LoCs that provides integrated heating functionality has been previously described. For a better understanding of the underlying mechanisms of its thermal dynamics a test system has been set up consisting of a printed circuit board, adhesive tape, integrated heater and microfluidic substrate. The focus of this contribution is the modelling of a transient thermal behavior model of non-integrated and integrated nonlinear heater and its experimental validation. A thermal model of a heating element in a polymer-based system's environment is developed with Finite Element Method. The thermal performance of both, integrated and non-integrated heating elements, is compared. The resulting design considerations are described in detail.