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Journal of Undergraduate Research

Keywords

on-chip microfluidic pumping system, fluid microchannels, deposition

College

Ira A. Fulton College of Engineering and Technology

Department

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Abstract

The fabrication and testing of micro-scale electroosmotic pumps, made with a thin-film deposition process compatible with standard silicon processing, is described. The fabrication method relies on chemical vapor deposition and chemical sacrificial etching to form long hollow fluid microchannels. Each pump consists of parallel narrow microchannels that deliver fluid to a larger wide sample handling microchannel. Flow rates were measured on these devices for different applied voltages using charge-coupled device (CCD) imaging. Pressures up to 1000 psi were produced. The pumps are based on the multiple open-channel electroosmotic pumping system described by Lazar et al [1]. However, instead of etching a glass substrate and using bonding to fabricate the pumps, thin film-deposition was used. This method of fabricating pumps is attractive because it can be used on a variety of substrates and offers high-scale integration with other planar thin-film components. These pumps have significantly smaller core diameters and spacing between microchannels than pumps made with alternative fabrication methods.

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