文献类型：期刊文献

英文题名：Optimization of Electrode Patterns for an ITO-Based Digital Microfluidic through the Finite Element Simulation

作者：Song, Ze-Rui[1];Zeng, Jin[1];Zhou, Jia-Le[1];Yan, Bing-Yong[1];Gu, Zhen[1];Wang, Hui-Feng[1]

机构：[1]East China Univ Sci & Technol, Key Lab Smart Mfg Energy Chem Proc, Minist Educ, Shanghai 200237, Peoples R China

年份：2022

卷号：13

期号：10

外文期刊名：MICROMACHINES

收录：;EI(收录号：20224413049522);WOS:【SCI-EXPANDED(收录号:WOS:000872960200001)】；

基金：This research was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, number 62103148.

语种：英文

外文关键词：digital microfluidic; finite element simulation; electrowetting-on-dielectric; indium tin oxide; laser direct etching; droplet manipulation

摘要：Indium tin oxide (ITO)-based digital microfluidics (DMF) with unique optical and electrical properties are promising in the development of integrated, automatic and portable analytical systems. The fabrication technique using laser direct etching (LDE) on ITO glass has the advantages of being rapid, low cost and convenient. However, the fabrication resolution of LDE limits the minimum line width for patterns on ITO glasses, leading to a related wider lead wire for the actuating electrodes of DMF compared with photolithography. Therefore, the lead wire of electrodes could affect the droplet motion on the digital microfluidic chip due to the increased contact line with the droplet. Herein, we developed a finite element model of a DMF with improved efficiency to investigate the effect of the lead wire. An optimized electrode pattern was then designed based on a theoretical analysis and validated by a simulation, which significantly decreased the deformation of the droplets down to 0.012 mm. The performance of the optimized electrode was also verified in an experiment. The proposed simulation method could be further extended to other DMF systems or applications to provide an efficient approach for the design and optimization of DMF chips.