Publications

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Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) comprise a new class of devices that include various forms of sensors and actuators. Recent studies have shown that microscale cantilever structures are able to detect a wide range of chemicals, biomolecules or even single bacterial cells. In this approach, cantilever deflection replaces optical fluorescence detection thereby eliminating complex chemical tagging steps that are difficult to achieve with chip-based architectures. A key challenge to utilizing this new detection scheme is the incorporation of functionalized MEMS structures within complex microfluidic channel architectures. The ability to accomplish this integration is currently limited by the processing approaches used to seal lids on pre-etched microfluidic channels. This report describes Sandia's first construction of MEMS instrumented microfluidic chips, which were fabricated by combining our leading capabilities in MEMS processing with our low-temperature photolithographic method for fabricating microfluidic channels. We have explored in-situ cantilevers and other similar passive MEMS devices as a new approach to directly sense fluid transport, and have successfully monitored local flow rates and viscosities within microfluidic channels. Actuated MEMS structures have also been incorporated into microfluidic channels, and the electrical requirements for actuation in liquids have been quantified with an elegant theory. Electrostatic actuation in water has been accomplished, and a novel technique for monitoring local electrical conductivities has been invented.

Electrostatic actuators exhibit fast response times and are easily integrated into microsystems because they can be fabricated with standard IC micromachining processes and materials. Although electrostatic actuators have been used extensively in 'dry' MEMS, they have received less attention in microfluidic systems probably because of challenges such as electrolysis, anodization, and electrode polarization. Here we demonstrate that ac drive signals can be used to prevent electrode polarization, and thus enable electrostatic actuation in many liquids, at potentials low enough to avoid electrochemistry. We measure the frequency response of an interdigitated silicon comb-drive actuator in liquids spanning a decade of dielectric permittivities and four decades of conductivity, and present a simple theory that predicts the characteristic actuation frequency. The analysis demonstrates the importance of the native oxide on silicon actuator response, and suggests that the actuation frequency can be shifted by controlling the thickness of the oxide. For native silicon devices, actuation is predicted at frequencies less than 10 MHz, in electrolytes of ionic strength up to 100 mmol/L, and thus electrostatic actuation may be feasible in many bioMEMS and other microfluidic applications.

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