Electrowetting-On-Dielectric Induced Droplet Actuation in M x N Array of Electrode

S. Sohail[1], D. Das[1], S. Das[2], and K. Biswas[1]
[1]Electrical Engineering Department, IIT Kharagpur
[2]School of Medical Science and Technology, IIT Kharagpur
Published in 2011

Digital microfluidic system based on EWOD (electrowetting-on-dielectric) technology can perform different fluidic operations on the same electrode array by simply modifying control software. One of the major challenges in EWOD device is to address each electrode individually in M x N array of electrode using simple fabrication architecture without compromising in system performance.

The present work focuses on using both top and bottom electrode aligned normal to each other on the XY-plane for 2D droplet motion in an M x N matrix of electrode. The proposed scheme is not only easy to fabricate but also does not compromise system performance as in the case of classical scheme due to large electrode gap.

The proposed scheme has been simulated in 3D environment using AC/DC module of COMSOL 4.1 software for voltage distribution and generated capacitance analysis. Voltage and capacitance across different layers has been calculated from field distribution plots and volume integral respectively has been used in energy based model for estimating actuation force during droplet transition.