Sma micro switching valve chip for biochemical ic family

This paper describes the development of the micro switching valve chip, which are actuated by SMA micro actuator. This micro switching valve uses only one built-in SMA micro actuator to switch among two outlets. The switching time at the active phase was faster than 0.5 sec. All parts such as the silicone rubber, the SMA micro actuator and a spacer were inserted during the fabrication of the switching valve using our original method of hybrid micro stereo lithography, thereby eliminating the need for micro assembly and bonding. In addition, basic performance of the switching valve chip was verified experimentally, using simple total reactor system which was constructed by stacking up the switching valve chip and other biochemical IC chips.