Development of a MEMS Plate Based on Thin-Film Piezoelectric AlN Actuators for Biological Applications

This paper presents the development of a lab-on-chip system based on the use of local vibrations to mechanically stimulate biological materials. It reports on the development and characterization of a piezoelectric actuators driven system designed to operate in liquid media. The microfluidic packaging of the Micro Electro Mechanical System (MEMS) is first presented. Then, electromechanical measurements done to calibrate our system are compared with Finite Element Method (FEM) simulations. These results are the first steps for implementation of piezoelectric MEMS to study mechanical response of biological cells at the population level.