CMOS compatible bistable electromagnetic microvalve on a single wafer

This paper presents our work in the bistable electromagnetic actuated microvalve. The microvalve is entirely fabricated by surface micromachining on top of a single Si (silicon) substrate. The microvalve has an overall diameter of 1600 μm and the overall height of 600 μm, including the wafer thickness. The bistable mechanism is achieved by integrating an electroplated micro CoNiMnP magnet on the membrane. The microvalve was tested in the flow of deionized (DI) water at 0-50 μL/min. The latching/unlatching of the microvalve was performed to control the flow DI water at 30 μL/min, it required the operational current of 0.38 A and the power of 1.17 W. The latching/unlatching response time of the microvalve is 10 ms, with the leaking rate of 0.16-0.8 μL/min.