The objective of the MICROMED CNRS project is the design of a complete microsystem usable in the treatment in vivo of hypertensives. The microsystem which corresponds with this objective includes different elements such as pressure sensors, a drug reservoir, a monitoring chip and a drug delivery system that necessitates the use of a dosing micropump able to deliver daily does of few microliters in several shots. We will focus here on the micropump:microfabrication technology, assembly and test. The fact that the fluid actuating membrane, the input and output fluid gates, and the two passive microvalues are together on a single silicon chip of 1 cm³ area makes this pump original. The fabrication technology combines the techniques of microelectronics and MEMS: micromachining for the square membrane and the fluid gates, sacrificial oxide layers and LPCVD polysilicon deposition for the microvalves. The assembly of the different parts is based on existing techniques like anodic bonding, gluing with adhesive films...we have investigated the fabrication of the micro pump with an electrostatic actuation. Tests are in progress for the first prototypes on a specific experimentation set- up in order to: (i) study the flowing of different fluids into the pump, (ii) study the directionality of the valves by plotting the flow rate/pressure (Phi) (P) diagram, (iii) study the pump functionality.

Date Published: 10 March 1999
PDF: 10 pages
Proc. SPIE 3680, Design, Test, and Microfabrication of MEMS and MOEMS, (10 March 1999); doi: 10.1117/12.341155

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 3680:
Design, Test, and Microfabrication of MEMS and MOEMS
Bernard Courtois; Wolfgang Ehrfeld; Selden B. Crary; Wolfgang Ehrfeld; Hiroyuki Fujita; Jean Michel Karam; Karen W. Markus, Editor(s)