Design and Analysis of Non-spiral Planar Microcoil-Based Electromagnetic Microactuator

Lab-on-chip devices essentially require micropumps and valves which incorporate a microactuating mechanism to control fluid flow. In this work, a non-spiral type planar microcoil is reported for implementing an electromagnetic microactuator. The effect of variation in coil geometries on the microactuator performance is analyzed for the first time. The microcoil fabricated and characterized in this work considerably reduces the number of lithography layers, thus improving the ease of fabrication while reducing the series coil resistance. The microcoil structures are further analyzed for the microactuator performance using finite element method, and the effect of coil geometries on the electromagnetic force generated by the actuator is studied. Microfabrication and electrical characterization results of the non-spiral planar microcoils show the influence of the same on the actuator performance. A tapered square microcoil geometry is proposed to improve the outputs from the actuator.