Micromachined silicon microvalve

Abstract

The fabrication and experimental results of an electrostatically actuated silicon microvalve which modulates a gas flow are presented. The microvalve converts an electric signal to a pneumatic signal for pressure or gas-flow control. Application areas for the microvalve include pneumatic flow control for industrial, commercial, and medical applications. The microvalve is integrally fabricated on a single silicon wafer using surface and bulk micromachining. The microvalve operates against pressures of up to 114 mmHg and flows of up to 150 sccm with a 30 volt signal and hold back pressures of up to 760 mmHg. The valve may be operated in DC or pulse width-modulated voltage modes.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>