Microfluidic system modeling using VHDL-AMS and circuit simulation

It is demonstrated that the operation of electrofluidic microsystems such as micropumps can be efficiently modeled by standard electrical circuit simulators, using the analog hardware description language (VHDL-AMS) to describe the models. As a representative example, compact models were developed for all constituent parts of an electromechanical micropump fabricated by silicon-based microstructure technology, including electrostatically actuated membrane drives, membrane valves and tubes together with the power supply and control circuitry. With the resulting macromodel of the micropump, the static characteristics as well as the dynamic behavior is correctly reproduced. Thus, with this approach it is possible to include fluidmechanical system components straightforwardly in conventional microelectronic design environments, allowing for easy full system analysis and optimization of even complex microsystems.