Middle-East Journal of Scientific Research 19 (4): 538-543, 2014 ISSN 1990-9233 © IDOSI Publications, 2014 DOI: 10.5829/idosi.mejsr.2014.19.4.13580 Corresponding Author: Roer Eka Pawinanto, Institute of Microengineering and Nanoelectronic (IMEN), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi 43600, Malaysia. 538 Design Consideration of Planar Embedded Micro-Coils for Electromagnetic Actuator of Fluids Injection System Roer Eka Pawinanto, Jumril Yunas, Muzalifah Mohd. Said, Burhanudin Yeop Majlis and Azrul Azlan Hamzah Institute of Microengineering and Nanoelectronic (IMEN), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi 43600, Malaysia Abstract: In this work, the design and optimization of electromagnetic micro-actuator induced by an embedded planar micro-coil is discussed. The actuator design is optimized to enable significant increase of the actuation force and magnetic flux density at low power consumption. Therefore, this work is focused on theoretical analysis of magnetically actuated membrane which has been induced by a planar embedded micro-coil. The design and geometry of the planar micro-coil are discussed in detail in this report. Furthermore, the parameters of coil dimension such as width, space and number of turn, were varied and compared by implementing 3 different permanent magnet materials (Neodymium, SmCo and AlNiCo) to obtain optimum force. As the results, the geometry of the micro-coil and the permanent magnet material greatly affect to the magnetic flux density and are highly related to the generated force. This work is greatly benefit for microfluidic injection system integrated in Lab-on-Chip. Key words: Micro-coil Electromagnetic actuator Finite element analysis MEMS INTRODUCTION order to achieve optimum magnetic force and magnetic Recently, micro-actuators for liquid injection system for the fluid sample injection with a maximum flow rate of that driven by electromagnetic field have gotten a lot of 10 nL/hr at electrical power consumption of lower than 100 attention on many fields due to their compact structure, mW. high actuation force at very low power consumption and In its application, the actuators play important factor easy fabrication as well as ability for integration [1-3]. on the performances of the injection system. As reported Planar micro-coil is widely used because it has several by [2, 10], the actuation of a membrane is affected by the advantages such as thin structure, low volume and the coil geometry. Unfortunately, there were no optimized possibility to integrate directly into the actuator system results yet that ensure the capability of the coil [4-5]. performance. Therefore, this work is focused on the Various types microactuators that was applied for theoretical analysis of magnetically actuated membrane fluids injection system have been reported in some induced by a planar embedded microcoil. The parameters literature. The common actuator system consist of of coil geometry, materials and structure are intensively magnetic, magneto hydrodynamic, thermal, electostatic investigated in this study. and piezoelectric based actuator pump [6-9]. In order to obtain a low flow rate, it is necessary to have a controlled Actuator Design: Figure 1 shows the schematic low actuator force withsufficient low deflection of the structure of the microactuator used as fluids injector. The membrane. Therefore, an optimized embedded planar system consist of permanent magnets, polyimide micro-coil for the magnetically membrane actuation membrane with embedded microcoil and the silicon purpose is reported. The actuator design is optimized in chamber. flux density which is useful to actuated a thin membrane