Manufacturing processes that can create extremely small machines have been developed in recent years. Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) refer to devices that have characteristic length of less than 1 mm but more than 1 micron, that combine electrical and mechanical components and that are fabricated using integrated circuit batch-processing techniques. Electrostatic, magnetic, pneumatic and thermal actuators, motors, valves, gears, and tweezers of less than 100-μm size have been fabricated. These have been used as sensors for pressure, temperature, mass flow, velocity and sound, as actuators for linear and angular motion and as simple components for complex systems such as micro-heat-engines and micro-heat-pumps The technology is progressing at a rate that fa r exceeds that of our understanding of the unconventional physics involved in the operation as well as the manufacturing of those minute devices. The primary objective of this article is to critically review the status of our understanding of fluid flow phenomena particular to microdevices. In terms of applications, the paper emphasizes the use of MEMS as sensors and actuators for flow diagnosis and control.

/pdf/the-fluid-mechanics-of-microdevices-the-freeman-scholar-4k4thaspga.pdf

The Fluid Mechanics of Microdevices—The Freeman Scholar Lecture

Part I: Background and Fundamentals Introduction, Mohamed Gad-el-Hak, University of Notre Dame Scaling of Micromechanical Devices, William Trimmer, Standard MEMS, Inc., and Robert H. Stroud, Aerospace Corporation Mechanical Properties of MEMS Materials, William N. Sharpe, Jr., Johns Hopkins University Flow Physics, Mohamed Gad-el-Hak, University of Notre Dame Integrated Simulation for MEMS: Coupling Flow-Structure-Thermal-Electrical Domains, Robert M. Kirby and George Em Karniadakis, Brown University, and Oleg Mikulchenko and Kartikeya Mayaram, Oregon State University Liquid Flows in Microchannels, Kendra V. Sharp and Ronald J. Adrian, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Juan G. Santiago and Joshua I. Molho, Stanford University Burnett Simulations of Flows in Microdevices, Ramesh K. Agarwal and Keon-Young Yun, Wichita State University Molecular-Based Microfluidic Simulation Models, Ali Beskok, Texas A&M University Lubrication in MEMS, Kenneth S. Breuer, Brown University Physics of Thin Liquid Films, Alexander Oron, Technion, Israel Bubble/Drop Transport in Microchannels, Hsueh-Chia Chang, University of Notre Dame Fundamentals of Control Theory, Bill Goodwine, University of Notre Dame Model-Based Flow Control for Distributed Architectures, Thomas R. Bewley, University of California, San Diego Soft Computing in Control, Mihir Sen and Bill Goodwine, University of Notre Dame Part II: Design and Fabrication Materials for Microelectromechanical Systems Christian A. Zorman and Mehran Mehregany, Case Western Reserve University MEMS Fabrication, Marc J. Madou, Nanogen, Inc. LIGA and Other Replication Techniques, Marc J. Madou, Nanogen, Inc. X-Ray-Based Fabrication, Todd Christenson, Sandia National Laboratories Electrochemical Fabrication (EFAB), Adam L. Cohen, MEMGen Corporation Fabrication and Characterization of Single-Crystal Silicon Carbide MEMS, Robert S. Okojie, NASA Glenn Research Center Deep Reactive Ion Etching for Bulk Micromachining of Silicon Carbide, Glenn M. Beheim, NASA Glenn Research Center Microfabricated Chemical Sensors for Aerospace Applications, Gary W. Hunter, NASA Glenn Research Center, Chung-Chiun Liu, Case Western Reserve University, and Darby B. Makel, Makel Engineering, Inc. Packaging of Harsh-Environment MEMS Devices, Liang-Yu Chen and Jih-Fen Lei, NASA Glenn Research Center Part III: Applications of MEMS Inertial Sensors, Paul L. Bergstrom, Michigan Technological University, and Gary G. Li, OMM, Inc. Micromachined Pressure Sensors, Jae-Sung Park, Chester Wilson, and Yogesh B. Gianchandani, University of Wisconsin-Madison Sensors and Actuators for Turbulent Flows. Lennart Loefdahl, Chalmers University of Technology, and Mohamed Gad-el-Hak, University of Notre Dame Surface-Micromachined Mechanisms, Andrew D. Oliver and David W. Plummer, Sandia National Laboratories Microrobotics Thorbjoern Ebefors and Goeran Stemme, Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden Microscale Vacuum Pumps, E. Phillip Muntz, University of Southern California, and Stephen E. Vargo, SiWave, Inc. Microdroplet Generators. Fan-Gang Tseng, National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan Micro Heat Pipes and Micro Heat Spreaders, G. P. "Bud" Peterson, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Microchannel Heat Sinks, Yitshak Zohar, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Flow Control, Mohamed Gad-el-Hak, University of Notre Dame) Part IV: The Future Reactive Control for Skin-Friction Reduction, Haecheon Choi, Seoul National University Towards MEMS Autonomous Control of Free-Shear Flows, Ahmed Naguib, Michigan State University Fabrication Technologies for Nanoelectromechanical Systems, Gary H. Bernstein, Holly V. Goodson, and Gregory L. Snider, University of Notre Dame Index

The MEMS Handbook

This review is focused on molecular momentum transport at fluid-solid interfaces mainly related to microfluidics and nanofluidics in micro-/nano-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS/NEMS). This broad subject covers molecular dynamics behaviors, boundary conditions, molecular momentum accommodations, theoretical and phenomenological models in terms of gas-solid and liquid-solid interfaces affected by various physical factors, such as fluid and solid species, surface roughness, surface patterns, wettability, temperature, pressure, fluid viscosity and polarity. This review offers an overview of the major achievements, including experiments, theories and molecular dynamics simulations, in the field with particular emphasis on the effects on microfluidics and nanofluidics in nanoscience and nanotechnology. In Section 1 we present a brief introduction on the backgrounds, history and concepts. Sections 2 and 3 are focused on molecular momentum transport at gas-solid and liquid-solid interfaces, respectively. Summary and conclusions are finally presented in Section 4.

/pdf/molecular-momentum-transport-at-fluid-solid-interfaces-in-18afd8tzhf.pdf

Molecular momentum transport at fluid-solid interfaces in MEMS/NEMS: a review.

Accurate modeling of gas microflow is crucial for the microfluidic devices in MEMS. Gas microflows through these devices are often in the slip and transition flow regimes, characterized by the Knudsen number of the order of 10−2~100. An increasing number of researchers now dedicate great attention to the developments in the modeling of non-equilibrium boundary conditions in the gas microflows, concentrating on the slip model. In this review, we present various slip models obtained from different theoretical, computational and experimental studies for gas microflows. Correct descriptions of the Knudsen layer effect are of critical importance in modeling and designing of gas microflow systems and in predicting their performances. Theoretical descriptions of the gas-surface interaction and gas-surface molecular interaction models are introduced to describe the boundary conditions. Various methods and techniques for determination of the slip coefficients are reviewed. The review presents the considerable success in the implementation of various slip boundary conditions to extend the Navier–Stokes (N–S) equations into the slip and transition flow regimes. Comparisons of different values and formulations of the first- and second-order slip coefficients and models reveal the discrepancies arising from different definitions in the first-order slip coefficient and various approaches to determine the second-order slip coefficient. In addition, no consensus has been reached on the correct and generalized form of higher-order slip expression. The influences of specific effects, such as effective mean free path of the gas molecules and viscosity, surface roughness, gas composition and tangential momentum accommodation coefficient, on the hybrid slip models for gas microflows are analyzed and discussed. It shows that although the various hybrid slip models are proposed from different viewpoints, they can contribute to N–S equations for capturing the high Knudsen number effects in the slip and transition flow regimes. Future studies are also discussed for improving the understanding of gas microflows and enabling us to exactly predict and actively control gas slip.

A review on slip models for gas microflows

The value of tangential momentum accommodation coefficient (TMAC) is required while prescribing the boundary condition for flow of gases in the slip and transition flow regimes. The precise determination of its value is important for several other applications as well. This article reviews the experimental techniques employed by researchers over the decades to measure this coefficient and the values reported in the literature, with relevance to calculation of the slip velocity. The review shows that the value of TMAC is dependent on a number of parameters including nature of the gas, pressure of the gas, material of the surface, surface cleanliness and roughness, and surface temperature. For monatomic gases, the TMAC at about 0.93 is almost constant with respect to the Knudsen number, and this value can be employed for most commonly available surface materials. However, for nonmonatomic gases, TMAC decreases with an increase in Knudsen number; a correlation of TMAC with Knudsen number for this class of ga...

Survey on measurement of tangential momentum accommodation coefficient

An experimental investigation of flows of a large number of inert and polyatomic gases in various channels, a non-ideal orifice, flat slits with different surface roughnesses and wall materials, capillary packets with molten walls and a capillary sieve, has been made.The unsteady flow method and a highly sensitive capacitance micromanometer were used (the sensitivity being ∼ 3 × 10−4N/m2Hz). Measurements were made in a range of Knudsen numbers 5 × 104–10−3 at ∼ 293 °K, and some measurements for flow through a non-ideal orifice were carried out at 77.2°K.It was found that, both in the viscous slip-flow and free-molecule regimes for the channels with molten walls, the experimental conductivities were higher (by ∼ 15%) than theoretical ones calculated assuming diffuse molecular scattering by the walls. We have also observed that the channel conductivity essentially depends on the channel surface roughness and on the kind of gas. The larger the roughness height, the lower the conductivity. From the experimental data the tangential momentum accommodation coefficients were calculated.

Experimental investigation of rarefied gas flow in different channels

A Poiseuille-flow problem in a cylindrical capillary in the whole range of Knudsen numbers with incomplete tangential momentum accommodation of molecules incident on the wall has been worked out. The linear non-homogeneous integral equation for the macroscopic gas velocity flow has been solved by the Bubnov-Galerkin method. For a limited range of Knudsen numbers, generally known results have been obtained.An experimental investigation of the rare gases helium, neon and argon in the range of Knudsen numbers 103−10−3 has been made on packets consisting of 10 and 100 glass capillaries with molten walls. Comparison of theoretical and experimental data enables us to define both slip constants and tangential momentum accommodation coefficients. In the free-molecule flow regime the accommodation coefficients are 0·935, 0·929 and 0·975 for helium, neon and argon, respectively. In the viscous slip-flow regime these coefficients are equal to 0·895, 0·865 and 0·919, respectively. This difference in the tangential momentum accommodation coefficients is, most probably, due to the variable density of adsorbed molecules coating the capillary wall. Gas viscosity coefficients which coincide with those of Kestin within 0.5% have also been calculated. Argon was used as the calibrating gas.

Poiseuille flow at arbitrary Knudsen numbers and tangential momentum accommodation

An experimental study was made of the flow of the gases He, Ne, Ar, Kr, Xe, H2, D2, N2, CO2, and CH4 in the range of Knudsen numbers of 104–10−1 at room temperature in a capillary screen. A study was also made of the flow of a number of inert and diatomic gases at temperatures of 77.2 and 194.7 °K in an orifice and in a capillary screen. The relative flow rates were determined in the free-molecular mode of flow. The coefficients of accomodation of tangential momentum are calculated for the gases studied at different temperatures.

S. F. Borisov

Papers

Experimental investigation of rarefied gas flow in different channels

Poiseuille flow at arbitrary Knudsen numbers and tangential momentum accommodation

Flow of rarefied gases in a capillary screen at different temperatures

Effect of roughness on walls on probability of passage of molecules in a two-dimensional channel

Flow of low-density gases in a capillary grid