Microvalve

A microvalve is a microscale valve, i.e. a microfluidic two-port component that regulates the flow between two fluidic ports.

Microvalves are basic components in microfluidic devices, such as labs-on-a-chip, where they are used to control the fluidic transport.

The actuator can either be an integrated magnetic, electrostatic,[2][3] piezoelectric[4] or thermal microactuator,[5] a "smart" phase change, e.g.

Passive microvalves are valves for which the operational state, i.e. open or close, is determined by the fluid they control.

However, despite the potential for cost-efficient batch fabrication offered by microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) technologies, gas microvalves have so far failed to reach the critical cost-per-performance ratio needed for a wide adoption of this technology.