Metallic High-Pressure Microfluidic Pump with Active Valves

We present for microfluidics the strongest yet mechanical micropump in sub-cm3 size, using simple processes and materials such as Parylene coated stainless steel stencils, paraffin, and copper clad polyimide. The pump consists of two active valves and one pumping chamber, each operated by a paraffin actuator. Each actuator is driven by a square pulse waveform with an amplitude of 1.8 V. The pump sequence has a period time of 14.4 s, resulting in the pumping of water up to 50 bar (5 MPa) back pressure without leakage and a flow rate of 0.75 μL/min.