Development of Surface Micromachining Technologies for Microfluidics and BioMEMS

In the last decade, examples of devices manufactured with SUMMiT technology have demonstrated the capabilities of polysilicon surface micromachining [1]. Currently we are working on enhancements to this technology that utilize additional structural layers of silicon nitride to enable Microfluidics and BioMEMS applications. The addition of the silicon nitride layers allows the fabrication of microfluidic flow channels that are transparent (allowing observation of cellular motion) and insulating (allowing the placement of polysilicon electrodes at arbitrary locations in the flow channels). The goal of this technology development effort is to ultimately provide functionality that is not feasible with other microfabrication technologies. The enhancements build on the key features of surface micromachining: manufacturability and compatibility with CMOS processing, which allow us to leverage the investment already made in the microelectronics processing technology. In this paper we will present examples of devices fabricated using this new enhanced surface micromachining technology. These devices include pumps, valves, and a cell manipulator.