Effect of electrode geometry on voltage reduction in EWOD based devices

Abstract

Electrowetting(EW) has been used sophistically in the fields of biomedical and optical applications. The major problem posing challenge in EW is to reduce its operating voltage. The study consist of understanding the effect of device parameters that affect EW phenomenon to reduce the actuation voltage with optimum velocity. Using EDEW 2.0 simulation tools [8] and Surface Evolver software [9, 11] EW is simulated. By varying the different parameters (electrode length, gap between electrodes, dielectric thickness, shape of electrode edge and dielectric constant) the corresponding energy curves (surface energy versus centroid position) are obtained. The main goal is to reduce the voltage. It is observed that voltage bears inverse relation with the surface energy and thus actuation voltage can be reduced by reducing the surface energy. There is direct influence of Electrode's parameters in reducing the surface energy.