A MEMS-fabricated microvacuum pump assembly is provided. The pump assembly is
designed
to operate in air and can be easily integrated into MEMS-fabricated microfluidic
systems. The pump assembly includes a series of pumping cavities with electrostatically-actuated
membranes interconnected by electrostatically-actuated microvalves. A large deflection
electrostatic actuator has a curved fixed drive electrode and a flat movable polymer
electrode. The curved electrodes are fabricated by buckling the electrode out-of-plane
using compressive stress, and the large deflection parallel-plane electrostatic
actuators are formed by using the curved electrode. The curved electrode allows
the movable electrode to travel over larger distances than is possible using a
flat electrode, with lower voltage. The movable electrode is a flat parylene membrane
that is placed on top of the curved electrode using a wafer-level transfer and
parylene bonding process. Using this approach, large out-of-plane deflection of
the parylene membrane is achieved using a voltage smaller than is achievable using
flat parallel-plate electrodes.