Patent ID: 8197657

Claim:
Device for the movement and transport of drops of liquid by means of the electrowetting effect, comprising: a first plane ( 1 ) with a plurality of electrode groups (X), (Y), . . . , each with a plurality of base electrodes (X i ), (Y 1 ), . . . ; a second plane ( 2 ) with a plurality of electrode groups (A), (B), . . . , each with a plurality of control electrodes (A i ), (B i ), . . . ; in which the first plane ( 1 ) and the second plane ( 2 ) run essentially parallel to each other at a planar distance ( 3 ) from each other and have all the electrodes (X i ), (Y i ), (A i ), B i ), . . . in essentially plane active surfaces, whereby: all of the electrodes of a given group (X), (Y), (A), (B), . . . are electrically connected with one another and can all be activated jointly; the individual electrodes of the groups regularly alternate with each other within a plane; and without the action of the electrowetting effect a drop of liquid at least partly overlaps at least two neighboring electrodes of the second and/or first plane simultaneously; characterized in that the device further comprises a plurality of parallel channels, which in their longitudinal dimension include control electrodes of the second plane ( 2 ), and which also comprise strip-shaped base electrodes of the first plane ( 1 ), which are arranged so that they run perpendicularly to the longitudinal dimension of the channels and run through all the channels simultaneously.