Polymer Tube Embedded In-plane Micropump: Design, Analysis And Fabrication

Abstract

This thesis presents the design, analysis, and fabrication of a novel polymer tube embedded in-plane micropump. The key component of the proposed micropump is a Parylene polymer tube that is embedded into the trench of a silicon die. Advantages of embedding a Parylene polymer tube are biocompatibility and leakage free environments. The issue of leakage of fluid presented in [1] is eliminated by inserting the polymer tube. The tube itself acts as a diaphragm, which transfers the force and motion of thermal actuators to fluid. The structural analysis and the fabrication of the Parylene tube along with the coupled-field multiphysics analysis of the electrothermal actuators are the challenging tasks involved. Compression ratio is computed, which determines the flow rate, and backpressure. 4 mm thick Parylene is conformally deposited on the nickel coated DRIE processed silicon wafer, and peeled off and two Parylene layers are bonded together to form a tube.