Patent DE-102006035925-B3 (DE)
Title: Device for finely controllable movement and/or positioning of liquid drops on a surface, comprises first substrate or two flat substrates arranged between the surface, and electrode arrangement having individual electrodes
Inventor: KROGMANN FLORIAN
IPC: B01J19/14
Filed: 2006-07-31
Granted: 2008-02-21
Abstract: The device for finely controllable movement and/or positioning of liquid drops (8) on a curved surface, comprises first substrate (1) or two flat substrates arranged between the surface, an electrode arrangement having individual electrodes (3, 4, 5) on the first substrate and on the second substrate, an insulating layer (2), which completely covers the electrode arrangement, a voltage control unit with voltage supply, which produces a temporally changeable electrical field between electrode of the arrangement and a liquid drop, and a holding structure (6). The device for finely controllable movement and/or positioning of liquid drops (8) on a curved surface, comprises first substrate (1) or two flat substrates arranged between the surface, an electrode arrangement having individual electrodes (3, 4, 5) on the first substrate and on the second substrate, an insulating layer (2), which completely covers the electrode arrangement, a voltage control unit with voltage supply, which produces a temporally changeable electrical field between electrode of the arrangement and a liquid drop, and a holding structure (6). The holding structure is structured more finely than the electrode arrangement and is realized through a net-like open work layer or net-like open work electrically conductive layer and/or a spatial variation of the distance between electrode surface and substrate surface within an electrode with the electrodes and/or the variation of the thickness within an electrode with the electrodes. The holding structure is realized through a periodic spatial variation of the thickness of the insulation layer on a substrate surface, and/or a periodic spatial structuring of the substrate surfaces, and/or a spatial structuring of a substrate surface. The structure is used as electrode simultaneously and/or as a periodic structure of the wettability on one of the two substrate surfaces. The electrodes are controllable via a usual matrix circuit by transistors. The device consists of a surface layer and exclusively of transparent materials for the desired wavelength range. Liquid mixable drops do not surround a drop. The device has a liquid drop reservoir, and is manufactured in micro-structuring processes. The holding structure is not an increased structure on the substrate, but the thickness of the dielectric layer is varied. The substrate has curvatures or deformations or a flexible film. The edge of the electrodes of the electrode structure has an interlinking tooth structure, a mold, which fulfills the surface completely for the two-dimensional level of a hexagonal or square shape and interlinks both filling-surfaces. A liquid drop and the surrounding liquid have the same mass density. A device is integrated for temperature control and temperature stabilization. Liquid drop biological cells or artificial vesicles are present in a membrane covering including chemical active substances.