Utilization of Standard CMOS Layers for Microchannels

In this paper we describe two different methods to create microchannels using the standard CMOS integrated circuit process. Two different types of channels are demonstrated. One channel is surface micromachined to create a small depth channel. The other channel is bulk micromachined to realize a large depth channel. Each channel can have variable length and width. The shallow channel has a fixed depth that is dependent on the thickness of the standard metal layers in CMOS. The larger depth channel is controllable with a minimum depth of 30μm. The advantage of this process is that sensors, actuators, and electronics are very easily integrated with the microchannels.