Microvalves are essential components of the miniaturization of the fluidic systems to control of fluid flow in a variety of applications as diverse as chemical analysis systems, micro-fuel cells, and integrated fluidic channel arrangements for electronic cooling. Using microvalves, these systems offer important advantages: they can operate using small sample volumes and provide rapid response time. This PhD dissertation presents the world first electromagnetically actuated microvalve fabricated on a single wafer with CMOS compatibility. In this dissertation, the design, fabrication, and testing results of two different types of electromagnetic microvalves are presented: the on/off microvalve and the bistable microvalve with latching mechanism. The microvalves operate with power consumption of less than 1.5 W and can control the volume flow rate of DI water, or a 50% diluted methanol solution in the range 1 - 50 µL in. The leaking rate of the on/off microvalve is the order of 30 nL/min. The microvalve demonstrated a response time for latching of 10 ms in water and 0.2 ms in air. This work has resulted in a US patent, application no. 10/699,210.Other inventions that have been developed as a result of this research are bidirectional, and bistable-bidirectional microactuators with latching mechanism, that can be utilized for optical switch, RF relay, micro mirror, nano indenter, or nano printings.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / In this study, a novel model for manipulating cancer blood cells based on multi-stage micro channels under varied low field concepts is proposed. Steering Device approach was followed to manipulate the cancer cells based on their various differential potentials across their membranes. The proposed approach considers the size and the surface potential as well as the iso electronic structure of the cells. These research objectives emphasize the separation of the cells in the blood stream, and differentiates various blood cells and tumors for further analysis within the microfluidic channels. The dimensions of the channel sets the required electric field for manipulating the cancer cells within the channels using low electrode voltage function. The outcomes of this research may introduce a new diagnostic approach of finding the minimum residual disease (MRD) scans, early detection and analysis scans. This thesis provides a mathematical model, detailing the theory of the cell sorting device, manipulating the blood cancer cells and design of the device structure are also detailed, leading to the optimum research parameters and process. A Computer Aided Design (CAD) was used to model the multi-cell sorting lab-on-chip device, details of hardware and software were used in the simulation of the device various stages. Reverse engineering to configure the potentials for sorting mechanism needs is discussed. The thesis work also presents a comparative study of this sorting mechanism and the other commercially available devices. The practical model of the proposed research is laid out for future consideration.