Patent ID: 8465967

Claim:
A method of trapping a charged particle, comprising: providing a planar substrate having a conductive surface thereon, the conductive surface having at least one non-conductive region; applying a solution to the conductive surface, the solution comprising at least one charged particle; electrically connecting one pole of a power source to the conductive surface, wherein the opposite pole of the power source is not connected to the conductive surface or to the solution; charging the conductive surface by applying a voltage of a threshold level to the conductive surface using the power source; in response to the voltage, generating an electrostatic field in the solution adjacent to a boundary between the conductive surface and the non-conductive region; and setting the threshold level of voltage to result in a strength of the electrostatic field sufficient to prevent the particle from crossing the electrostatic field wherein the voltage applied to the conductive surface has the same polarity as the at least one charged particle.