Foil-Level Inkjet-Printed pyroMEMS Balloon Actuators: Fabrication, Modeling, and Validation

Author

de Koninck, David A. ; Molina-Lopez, Francisco ; Briand, Danick ; de Rooij, Nico F.

Author_Institution

Inst. of Microeng., Ecole Polytech. Fed. de Lausanne, Neuchatel, Switzerland

Volume

23

Issue

6

fYear

2014

fDate

Dec. 2014

Firstpage

1417

Lastpage

1427

Abstract

A cleanroom-free fabrication process adapted to microfluidic devices is presented for pyrotechnical microelectromechanical systems balloon actuators. The actuators are intended for on-chip pumping and fluid ejection to replace tabletop pumping solutions in low-cost portable single-use microfluidic devices. The fabrication process leveraged polymeric foils (polyethylene terephthalate, SU-8, polydimethylsiloxane) for the structure, directly bonded using surface treatments, heat and pressure, and inkjet printing and electroplating for the igniter. This paper also presents a semianalytical model that successfully predicted the inflation height of the balloon for a given device geometry and propellant loading.

Keywords

electroplating; foils; ink jet printing; microactuators; microfluidics; polymers; surface treatment; SU-8; cleanroom-free fabrication process; device geometry; electroplating; fluid ejection; foil-level inkjet-printed pyroMEMS balloon actuators; igniter; inflation height; inkjet printing; microfluidic devices; on-chip pumping; polydimethylsiloxane; polyethylene terephthalate; polymeric foils; propellant loading; pyrotechnical microelectromechanical systems balloon actuators; semianalytical model; surface treatments; tabletop pumping solutions; Actuators; Combustion; Fabrication; Heating; Lamination; Propulsion; Stress; Bonding processes; fluidic microsystems; microelectromechanical systems; microelectromechanical systems.;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Microelectromechanical Systems, Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1057-7157

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/JMEMS.2014.2314702

Filename

6825797