Abstract
Micropump is very useful component in micro/nano fluidics and bioMEMS applications. In this study, a bubble-powered micropump was fabricated and tested. The micropump consists of two-parallel micro line heaters, a pair of nozzle-diffuser flow controller and a 1 mm in diameter, 400 ${\mu}m$ in depth pumping chamber. The two-parallel micro line heaters with 20 ${\mu}m-width$ and 200 ${\mu}m-length$ were fabricated to be embedded in the silicon dioxide layer of a wafer which serves as a base plate for the micropump. The pumping chamber, the pair of nozzle-diffuser unit and microchannels including the liquid inlet and outlet port were fabricated by etching through another silicon wafer. A glass wafer (thickness of $525{\pm}15$ ${\mu}m$) having two holes of inlet and outlet ports of liquid serve as upper plate of the pump. Finally the silicon wafer of the base plate, the silicon wafer of pumping chamber and the glass wafer were aligned and bonded (Si-Si bonding and anodic bonding). A sequential photograph of bubble nucleation, growth and collapse was visualized by CCD camera. Clearly liquid flow through the nozzle during the period of bubble growth and slight back flow of liquid at the end of collapsing period can be seen. The mass flow rate was found to be dependent on the duty ratio and the operation frequency. As duty ratio increases, flow rate decreases gradually when the duty ratio exceeds 60%. Also as the operation frequency increases, the flow rate of the micropump decreases slightly.