Microfluidics and its Applications

Introduction to MEMS

Prof. Satish Kumar Dubey

BITS Pilani Mechanical Engineering Department

Hyderabad Campus
 BITS Pilani
Hyderabad Campus

Scaling Laws
 Scaling Laws: Why?
• Era of “think small,
• One would intuitively simply scale down the size of all
components to a device to make it small.
• Unfortunately, the reality does not work out that way.
• True  nothing is there to stop one from down sizing
the device components to make the device small.
• However  serious physical consequences of scaling
down many physical quantities.
• Scaling laws  will make engineers aware
o Both positive and negative physical consequences
of scaling down machines and devices.

BITS F415: Introduction to MEMS – Dr. Satish K Dubey, MechE 3 BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus
 Scaling Laws: Why?
• Miniaturizing machines and physical systems is an ongoing
effort in human civilization.
• This effort has been intensified in recent years as market
demands for:
o Intelligent, Robust, Multi-functional and Low cost
consumer products has become more strong than ever.
• The only solution to produce these consumer products is
to package many components into the product
o making it necessary to miniaturize each individual
components.
• Miniaturization of physical systems lot more than just
scaling down device components in sizes.
• Some physical systems either cannot be scaled down
favorably, or cannot be scaled down at all!
BITS F415: Introduction to MEMS – Dr. Satish K Dubey, MechE 4 BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus
 Various Scaling Laws
The very first thing that any engineer would do in the
design of microfluidics, MEMS and microsystems.

● Scaling in Geometry Types 1: Scaling of

physical size of
● Scaling in Rigid-Body Dynamics
objects
● Scaling in Electrostatic Forces
Type 2: Scaling of
● Scaling in Electromagnetic Forces
both size and
● Scaling in Electricity material
● Scaling in Fluid Mechanics characterizations

● Scaling in Heat Transfer

BITS F415: Introduction to MEMS – Dr. Satish K Dubey, MechE 5 BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus
 Scaling Laws: What are they?
● Volume (V) and surface (S) are two physical parameters that are
frequently involved in machine design.

● Volume  mass and weight of device components.

o Volume relates to both mechanical and thermal inertia.
o Thermal inertia  a measure on how fast we can heat or cool a
solid. It is an important parameter in the design of a thermally
actuated device.
● Surface is related to pressure and the buoyant forces in fluid
mechanics.
o Example  surface pumping by using piezoelectric means is a
practical way for driving fluids flow in capillary conduits.
• When the physical quantity is to be miniaturized
o Design engineer MUST understand the magnitudes of the
possible consequences from the reduction on both the volume
and surface of the particular device.

BITS F415: Introduction to MEMS – Dr. Satish K Dubey, MechE 6 BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus
 Scaling in Geometry
If we let ℓ = linear dimension of a solid, we will have:
The volume: V  l3
S/V = ℓ-1
The surface: S  l2 A 10 times reduction in length
→ 103 = 1000 time reduction in
volume. but → 102 = 100 time
reduction in surface area.
Volume, V relates to mass and surface area
S relates to buoyancy force:

S/V ≈ 10-4/mm

S/V ≈ 10-1/mm

So, an elephant can never fly as easily as a dragonfly!!

BITS F415: Introduction to MEMS – Dr. Satish K Dubey, MechE 7 BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus
 Basic Scaling Law
System of units

BITS F415: Introduction to MEMS – Dr. Satish K Dubey, MechE 8 BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus
 Scaling law in nature
• Length and time scales of
physical phenomena determines
phenotype of living organisms
o Size and construction of their
systems as well as how they
live and behave, example • Smaller the organism 
• Qin: As a result of food intake, the higher will be the loss of heat
amount of heat produced per unit to surrounding relative to the
time by shrew is proportional to heat extracted from the food.
its volume: • Small organisms have to eat
almost continuously during
Qin L3 the day.
• Larger organisms, such as
T QLoss 1 whales, have problem with
QLoss  kAS extracting heat from their
 Qin L2 body, because of their low
QLoss L surface to volume ratio.

BITS F415: Introduction to MEMS – Dr. Satish K Dubey, MechE 9 BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus
 Scaling law in nature

2
Fad L

BITS F415: Introduction to MEMS – Dr. Satish K Dubey, MechE 10 BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus
 Scaling law in nature

BITS F415: Introduction to MEMS – Dr. Satish K Dubey, MechE 11 BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus
 Scaling Analysis

BITS F415: Introduction to MEMS – Dr. Satish K Dubey, MechE 12 BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus
 Scaling Analysis

BITS F415: Introduction to MEMS – Dr. Satish K Dubey, MechE 13 BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus
 Scaling Analysis

BITS F415: Introduction to MEMS – Dr. Satish K Dubey, MechE 14 BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus
 Scaling law in nature

BITS F415: Introduction to MEMS – Dr. Satish K Dubey, MechE 15 BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus
 Example on scaling law in geometry of a MEMS device
What would happen to the required torque to turn a micro mirror with
50% reduction in size?
a
y Torque required to turn the mirror:   I yy
where Iyy = mass moment of inertia of the mirror about
y-axis determined by the following
expression:1
b I yy
2
 Mc
12
M = mass of the mirror and c = width of the mirror.

But the mass of the mirror, M = ρ(bct) with ρ = mass

c density of the mirror material (a fixed value). Thus, we
have: 1
y I yy  bc3t
12
A 50% reduction in size would result in the
following:

BITS F415: Introduction to MEMS – Dr. Satish K Dubey, MechE 16 BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus
 Scaling in Rigid-Body Dynamics
• Forces are required to make parts to move (micro actuators)
• Power is the source for the generation of forces.
• An engineer needs to resolve the following issues when dealing with
the design of a dynamics system such as an actuator :
The required amount of a force to move a part,
How fast the desired movements can be
achieved, How readily a moving part can be
stopped.

• The resolution to the above issues is on the inertia of the actuating

part.
• The inertia of solid is related to its mass and the acceleration
that is required to initiate or stop the motion of a solid device
component.
• In the case of miniaturizing these components, one needs to
understand the effect of reduction in the size on the power (P), force
(F) or pressure (p), and the time (t) required to deliver the motion.
BITS F415: Introduction to MEMS – Dr. Satish K Dubey, MechE 17 BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus
 Scaling in Rigid-Body Dynamics
• Important to know how size (scaling) affects the required forces (F),
and thus power (P) in the performances of these devices.
• Dynamic force (F) acting on a rigid body in motion with acceleration (a)
(or deceleration) can be computed from Newton’s 2nd law: F = M a
• Acceleration (a) can be expressed in the following way

• Let the displacement of the rigid body, s  (ℓ), in which ℓ = linear scale.

But velocity, v = s/t, and hence v  (ℓ)t-1, in which t is the required

time.
From particle kinematics, we s  vo t  1 a t 2
have:
2
where vo = the initial velocity.
By letting vo = 0, we may 2s
a
express: t2
2sM
F  Ma  2  ( ℓ)( ℓ ) t
Thus, the scaling of dynamic force, 3 2
F is: t

BITS F415: Introduction to MEMS – Dr. Satish K Dubey, MechE 18 BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus
 Trimmer Force Scaling Vector

• “order” means the index, α in the scaling of a quantity in linear

dimension, i.e. (ℓ)α
• For example: Weight, W ∝ V (= (ℓ)3 for order 3);
• Pressure, P ∝ 1/A (= (ℓ)-2 for order 2).
• The +ve or –ve sign of the order indicates proportional or reverse
proportional in scaling.

BITS F415: Introduction to MEMS – Dr. Satish K Dubey, MechE 19 BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus
 Trimmer Force Scaling Vector
2sM
F  Ma   (ℓ)(ℓ3) t2
t2
a = F/M

BITS F415: Introduction to MEMS – Dr. Satish K Dubey, MechE 20 BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus
 Trimmer Force Scaling Vector
2sM
F  Ma   (ℓ)(ℓ3) t2
t2

• MEMS  one must

make sure that the
power used to drive
the device or system
is properly scaled
down too.
• In the design
practice, power
density, rather than
power, is used
BITS F415: Introduction to MEMS – Dr. Satish K Dubey, MechE 21 BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus
 Trimmer Force Scaling Vector

BITS F415: Introduction to MEMS – Dr. Satish K Dubey, MechE 22 BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus
 Example
Estimate the associate changes in the acceleration (a) and the time
(t) and the power supply (P) to actuate a MEMS component if its
weight is reduced by a factor of 10.

Solution: Since W  V (= (ℓ)3 , so it involves Order 3 scaling, from the table for
scaling of dynamic forces, we get:
● There will be no reduction in the acceleration (ℓ0)
● There will be (ℓ0.5 ) = (10)0.5 = 3.16 reduction in the time to complete the motion
● There will be (ℓ0.5) = 3.16 times reduction in power density (P/Vo)
The reduction of power consumption is 3.16 Vo. Since the volume of the
component is reduced by a factor of 10, the power consumption after
scaling down reduces by: P = 3.16/10 = 0.3 times
BITS F415: Introduction to MEMS – Dr. Satish K Dubey, MechE 23 BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus
 Scaling in Electrostatic Forces
Potential energy is:
L

U   CV 2    0  r
W V 1 WL 2
V
d 2 2d

If ℓ = linear scale of the electrodes  o , r  ℓ 0 and W, L and d  ℓ 1

The scaling of voltage, V can be approximated by the Paschen’s effect

Break down Taking V  ℓ 1
voltage, V
Scaling of the Potential energy, U

Gap, d
5m
10m

A 10 times reduction of linear size of electrodes

→ 103 = 1000 times reduction in Potential energy!!
BITS F415: Introduction to MEMS – Dr. Satish K Dubey, MechE 24 BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus
 Scaling in Electrostatic Forces
Electrostatic forces in misaligned electrodes

Fd
Fw

L FL
V
d W

Fd, FW, and FL  ℓ2

Scaling: A 10 times reduction in electrode linear dimensions

→ 102 = 100 times reduction in the magnitude of the electrostatic

forces.

BITS F415: Introduction to MEMS – Dr. Satish K Dubey, MechE 25 BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus
 Scaling in magnetic domain
0 l
F  I1I 2
2 d
I JAI = JlJA2  Jl2
4 Fem  l4
F l
Fem we know, Fes  l2
l
Fes 𝐹𝑒𝑚
= 𝑙2
𝐹𝑒𝑠
• Reducing the wire length by half (1/2)
o Result in reduction of Fem by 24 = 16 times
o Result in reduction of Fes by 22 = 4 times
electromagnetic forces are NOT commonly used in MEMS as
preferred actuation force
BITS F415: Introduction to MEMS – Dr. Satish K Dubey, MechE 26 BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus
 Scaling in Electricity

• 10 times reduction of l
o 100 times greater power loss due to the resistance increase
o Disadvantage of scaling down of power supply systems.

BITS F415: Introduction to MEMS – Dr. Satish K Dubey, MechE 27 BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus
 Scaling in Electricity

So time constant is independent of scaling.

BITS F415: Introduction to MEMS – Dr. Satish K Dubey, MechE 28 BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus
 Scaling in Fluid Mechanics
Two important quantities in fluid L
mechanics in flows in capillary
conduits Flow in
Q
Flow out
a

A. Volumetric Flow, Q: p
From Hagen-Poiseuille’s equation

Q
 a 4 P
Q  a4
Leads
8L to:

Meaning a reduction of 10 in conduit radius

→ 104 = 10000 times reduction in volumetric flow!
B. Pressure Drop, ∆P:
From the same Hagen-Poiseuille’s equation, we can derive:
8 V ave L
P   Leads ∆P/L a -3
a2 to:
Scaling: A reduction of 10 times in conduit radius
→ 103 = 1000 times increase in pressure drop per unit
length!!
BITS F415: Introduction to MEMS – Dr. Satish K Dubey, MechE 29 BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus
 Scaling in Fluid Mechanics
Scaling effect :
 More pressure drop
 Small discharge .
 Pressure driven flows are challenge,
therefore at microscale pressure driven flow
are not excellent (but still they are used)
 Preferred flow
 Electroosmotic
 Piezoelectric
 Acoustic
BITS F415: Introduction to MEMS – Dr. Satish K Dubey, MechE 30 BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus
 Scaling in Heat Conduction
Two concerns in heat flows in MEMS:
A. How conductive the solid becomes when it is scaling down?
This issue is related to thermal conductivity of solids.
Thermal conductivity

 Reduction in size leads to the decrease of total heat flow.

B. How fast heat can be conducted in solids:

This issue is related to Fourier number
defined as:

Scaling: A 10 times reduction in size

→ 102 = 100 time reduction in time to heat the solid.
BITS F415: Introduction to MEMS – Dr. Satish K Dubey, MechE 31 BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus
 Scaling in Thermal System
Miniaturized system handle
volume heat generation in
Qloss 1 more effective manner

Fgen l2 Transient heat transfer

  hAt
e
0  CV
Miniaturized system  CV  C V 1 V 1
are suitable for   
transient hA k hl l  Bi l
temperature sensing k
V
  l i22
l
BITS F415: Introduction to MEMS – Dr. Satish K Dubey, MechE 32 BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus
 Evaporation of droplet

d  d  t
2 2  Time scale at which droplet
disappear
0
2  Miniaturized system favors droplet
d0 evaporation
 l 2

  Application: Pulmonary drug

delivery

BITS F415: Introduction to MEMS – Dr. Satish K Dubey, MechE 33 BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus
 Smaller things moves faster

• So, if the material is kept unchanged and the size of the beam is
changed (keeping dimensional proportions intact) it can be seen
that ωn ∝ l−1.
• System’s natural frequency increases with miniaturization.
• Typical frequency of microsystems and devices can be in MHz (or
even GHz) range.
• The response time of mechanical systems in the microrange can be
as low as electronic devices.

BITS F415: Introduction to MEMS – Dr. Satish K Dubey, MechE 34 BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus
 Scaling at Micro regime

BITS F415: Introduction to MEMS – Dr. Satish K Dubey, MechE 35 BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus
 Is self weight is important in micro domain

BITS F415: Introduction to MEMS – Dr. Satish K Dubey, MechE 36 BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus
 Scaling lengths

BITS F415: Introduction to MEMS – Dr. Satish K Dubey, MechE 37 BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus
 Scaling of different physical quantities

BITS F415: Introduction to MEMS – Dr. Satish K Dubey, MechE 38 BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus