(521g) Package-Level Multilayered Ceramic Micropumps for Lab-on-Chip

Efficient, compact fluid control and transport remains a key technological challenge for the practical application of microfluidic systems in chemical analysis and synthesis, biomedical devices, biological sensing, and environmental monitoring. Micropumps with piezoelectric actuation offer an alternative to motor driven pumps and have the potential to be integrated into lab-on-chip microfluidic devices at the chip or package level.

The major goal of current work was to employ Low Temperature Co-fired Ceramic (LTCC) processing technology to design, and fabricate a novel package-level piezoelectric micropump that can be easily assembled and integrated into microfluidic devices and systems. The resulting micropump consists of both passive substrate layers, to define the overall pump geometry and fluidic interconnects, and active piezoelectric layers, incorporating bimorph piezoelectric actuators. This novel design leads to large stroke volume and enhanced pumping speed (compared to conventional single layer actuator designs) without adding significantly to the complexity of the micropump fabrication. This unique multilayer design is facilitated by the flexibility afforded by the LTCC fabrication approach.

A high-strain piezoelectric thick film tape material has been developed that can be directly integrated and cofired with commercial LTCC materials and fabrication processes. The performance of the resulting micropumps has been optimized and evaluated by both numerical simulations and experimental results. The successful design, fabrication and optimization of this type of micropump demonstrates a potentially transformative new capability for the design, packaging, and manufacture of the next generation of advanced highly integrated microfluidic systems.