Liquid-flow measurements in silicon dioxide channels with micron-sized dimension

Abstract

Flow measurements on silicon dioxide microchannels featuring inner cross-section as low as 16 μm2 and aspect-ratio as high as 50 have been performed using liquids with different dynamic viscosities. The microchannels, arranged in a square array with density of 1 × 10 6 channel/cm2, are embedded into a silicon substrate and connected to a reservoir grooved on the backside of the substrate. Flow measurements were performed by using an original, purposely designed system. In this work, details on both the measurement systems and the flow properties of such a small channels are reported and discussed. © 2011 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.