Integrable active microvalve with surface micromachined curled-up actuator

Author

Haji-Babaei, J. ; Kwok, C.Y. ; Huang, R.S.

Author_Institution

Sch. of Electr. Eng., Univ. of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia

Volume

2

fYear

1997

fDate

16-19 Jun 1997

Firstpage

833

Abstract

An integrable electrostatic microvalve consisting of a curled-up cantilever movable part and a square valve orifice comprising of three pyramidal channels in tandem is presented. The curled-up cantilever, which consists of a silicon dioxide beam with a very thin layer of Cr, is formed by surface micromachining. The valve orifice is fabricated by bulk micromachining in such a way as to merge with the surface micromachining process. This process provided better control of the orifice dimensions. Measured switching voltage of 30 volts has been obtained. Linear flow versus differential pressure characteristics have been obtained from this type of triple tandem pyramidal orifice

Keywords

electrostatic devices; flow control; microactuators; micromachining; micromechanical resonators; valves; 30 V; Cr thin layer; SiO₂ beam; SiO₂-Cr; bulk micromachining; integrable active microvalve; integrable electrostatic microvalve; linear flow versus differential pressure characteristics; orifice dimension control; pyramidal channels; square valve orifice; surface micromachined curled-up actuator; switching voltage; triple tandem pyramidal orifice; Chromium; Electrostatics; Micromachining; Microvalves; Orifices; Process control; Silicon compounds; Structural beams; Valves; Voltage measurement;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Solid State Sensors and Actuators, 1997. TRANSDUCERS '97 Chicago., 1997 International Conference on

Conference_Location

Chicago, IL

Print_ISBN

0-7803-3829-4

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/SENSOR.1997.635230

Filename

635230