Title :
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
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;
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
DOI :
10.1109/SENSOR.1997.635230
