Clog growth l c Fig. Schematic illustration of a tapered channel. The 165 channels are identical, arranged in parallel, and tethered to an inlet reservoir. The width of each channel, w c , tapers at an angle of θ ≈ 0.02 • over a length, l c ≈ 5 cm. In each channel, w c decreases along the flow path -from 40 µm in the inlet to 4µm at the outlet. Flow is simultaneously delivered into each channel from the inlet reservoir. The discontinuous clogging process begins from the outlet, where the channels width is approximately equal to the flowing particle size. Due to the taper angle being very gentle: θ ≈ 0.02 • , this figure is not drawn to scale.