Characteristics of a micromachined piezovalve combined with a multilayer ceramic actuator

This paper describes the design, fabrication and characteristics of a micromachined piezoelectric valve utilizing a multilayer ceramic actuator (MCA). The micromachined MCA valve, which uses a buckling effect, consists of three separate structures: the MCA, the valve actuator die and the seat die. The valve seat die with six trenches was made, and the actuator die, which is driven by the MCA under optimized conditions, was also fabricated. After Si wafer direct bonding between the seat die and the actuator die, the MCA was also anodically bonded to the seat/actuator die structure. A polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) sealing pad was fabricated to minimize the leak rate. Finally, the PDMS sealing pad was also bonded to the seat die and the stainless steel package. The MCA valve shows a flow rate of 9.13 sccm at an applied DC voltage of 100 V with a 50% duty cycle and a maximum non-linearity of 2.24% FS. Therefore, the fabricated MCA valve is suitable for a variety of flow control equipment, as a medical bio-system and in the automobile industry.