Patent ID: 7505110

Claim:
A method of fabricating a micro-valve having an inlet and an outlet, said method comprising: on a substrate, forming a lower chamber having a bottom wall and sidewalls and forming an upper chamber having a top wall and sidewalls, a bottom of said upper chamber separated from a top of said lower chamber by a porous, flexible and electrically conductive mat of nano-fibers; forming an opening in said top wall of said upper chamber; forming an impervious valve seal on said mat of nano-fibers, said valve seat below and self-aligned to said opening; forming a first electrically conductive plate above said top wall of said upper chamber and a second electrically conductive plate under said bottom wall of said lower chamber; forming a first electrical contact to said first conductive plate; forming a second electrical contact to said second conductive plate; forming a third electrical contact to said mat of nano-fibers; wherein said first conductive plate is formed on a insulating layer formed on a substrate; wherein said forming said lower chamber includes forming a first trench in a first dielectric layer formed on said first conductive plate, filling said trench with a first sacrificial material and forming said porous mat of nano-fibers over said first sacrificial material followed by removing said first sacrificial material; and wherein said forming said upper chamber includes forming a trench in a second dielectric layer formed on said mat of nano-fibers, filling said second trench with a second sacrificial material, forming a third dielectric layer on said second dielectric layer and said second sacrificial material, forming an opening though said third dielectric layer to said second sacrificial material and removing said second sacrificial material.