Magnetic Polymer Based Micropumps for Microfluidic Sample Delivery System

Abstract

In this paper we present the development of electromagnetic (EM) microfluidic pumps incorporating the magnetic polymer composite for the transport of microfluidic bio-sample. The pump system includes the electromagnetic field generator, a flexible actuator membrane made of polymer material with embedded magnetic particles and valve-less microfluidic channel and chamber. The micropump is fabricated using a MEMS process with additional bonding process. Various types of the magnetic membrane as well as electromagnetic coils were fabricated and characterized to find optimum pump performance. As the results, it is found that the fabricated pump systems were able to deliver fluidic sample within a large flow-rate range from 6 ml/min down to several nl/min which can be adjusted by setting the input electrical current parameters, such as intensity, frequency and type of the current signal.