• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.29 no.3 s.234
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• pp.418-424
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• 2005

We present the design, fabrication and experimental results of 4-bit digital microinjectors, whose ejected droplet volumes are adjusted by the digital operation of a 4-bit microheater array. We design the reference microinjectors as well as its comparative test structures. In the fabrication process, we use a five-mask micromachining process and the total chip size of the fabricated microinjector is $7,640{\mu}m{\times}5,260{\mu}m.$ We measure the ejected droplet volumes and velocities, which are adjusted from $12.1{\pm}1.0~55.6{\pm}14.7pl\;and\;2.3{\pm}0.1~15.7{\pm}0.8m/s.$ respectively, depending on the 15 possible combinations of 4-bit microheater array. We also experimentally characterize the effect of geometric variation including the microheater size, inter-microheater gap, microchannel width and sequential operation of microheater array on the ejected droplet volume and velocity. Among these parameters, we find that the microheater size is the most dominant parameter affected to the ejected droplet volumes and velocities. Thus, the present microinjector has a potential for application to the high-resolution inkjet printers with multiple gray levels or high-precision fluid injectors with variable volume control.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.307-312
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• 2011

As a technique for removing cancerous tumors from normal tissue, radio-frequency electromagnetic waves were employed to heating target cells up to the critical temperature, which kills the cancerous cells. However, its use in treating tumors in soft organs is limited by inconvenient factors, which are use of high-currents and long time operation. In this work, the feasibility of the localized heating by inserting four conducting electrodes with tiny direct current is investigated. The heat source is resulting from the electric field as known as resistive heating. We have investigated the temperature distribution as a function of applying DC voltages ranging from 10 V to 30 V with 10 V step. From the simulation results, the mushroom-like lesion shape by applying 20 V is generated by four electrodes within a few minutes, that is proper to the clinical application.