The main purpose of the paper is to contribute at presenting an analytical and a numerical modeling which would be relevant for interpreting the couplings between a circular membrane, a peripheral cavity having the same external radius as the membrane, and a thin air gap (with a geometrical discontinuity between them), and then to characterize small scale electrostatic receivers and to propose procedures that could be suitable for fitting adjustable parameters to achieve optimal behavior in terms of sensitivity and bandwidth expected. Therefore, comparison between these theoretical methods and characterization of several shapes is dealt with, which show that the models would be appropriate to address the design of such transducers.

A miniaturized electrostatic receiver design, having a central cylindrical backing electrode of small radius surrounded by a flat annular cavity behind the circular membrane, can lead to both a higher sensitivity and a larger frequency bandwidth compared to the ones achieved with other designs, while bringing a geometrical simplicity which is advantageous from the point of view of microfabrication. An appropriate computational method, relying on a specific 2-D axisymmetrical simulation using an adaptive mesh and accounting for both viscous and thermal boundary layer effects, provides results against which analytical results can be tested. An analytical approach, which leads to solutions based on the eigenmode expansion of the membrane displacement, the acoustic pressure field depending on the radial coordinate in the central fluid gap but being assumed quasi-uniform in the annular cavity, is much faster in terms of running time and appears to be sufficiently accurate to achieve final optimization of this kind of devices.

A miniaturized electrostatic receiver design, having a central cylindrical backing electrode of small radius surrounded by a flat annular cavity behind the circular membrane, can lead to both a higher sensitivity and a larger frequency bandwidth compared to the ones achieved with other designs, while bringing a geometrical simplicity which is advantageous from the point of view of microfabrication. An appropriate computational method, relying on a specific 2-D axisymmetrical simulation using an adaptive mesh and accounting for both viscous and thermal boundary layer effects, provides results against which analytical results can be tested. An analytical approach, which leads to solutions based on the eigenmode expansion of the membrane displacement, the acoustic pressure field depending on the radial coordinate in the central fluid gap but being assumed quasi-uniform in the annular cavity, is much faster in terms of running time and appears to be sufficiently accurate to achieve final optimization of this kind of devices.

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We present an integrated microfluidic system developed based on semiconductor and flat panel display compatible technology to facilitate mass manufacturability of next generation Lab-on-Chip systems. Tailored to different dynamic specifications, two semiconductor grade polymers are selected and used for device fabrication. Compared with PDMS based approach, the selected polymers and optimized excimer laser-aided transferring technique serve as the key factors to enable multi-step and high controllable diagnostic point-of-care platforms with integrated electrical and optical detection schemes.