MEMS Vacuum Pumps

This paper is the first comprehensive review on microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) vacuum pumps. Pumping of gases and generation of vacuum in micro-scaled devices are topics that have been quite rarely discussed in the literature. For years, attention was paid only to fluidic micropumps. In recent years, the situation has changed; these problems have become more and more important now. There is a big interest in miniature portable vacuum devices and analytical instruments, which all need to be equipped with miniature vacuum pumps. Different types of vacuum pumps operating on different principles and in different pressure ranges have been miniaturized so far: membrane, rotary, turbomolecular, diffusion, and sorption. All of them are described in this paper. The greatest interest is to put recent achievements, solutions, and possible applications, but also their limitations are discussed as well.