Microactuation by Electrical Control of Surface Tension

Chang-Jin“CJ”Kim，UCLA ENG-9980874通过表面张力的电气控制实现微致动这个工程微系统的目标：“XYZ”芯片项目是建立表面张力作为微器件中移动液体介质的主要力源。当物体缩小到微米时，表面张力支配着大多数传统的力。鼓励最近成功的液体微电机，这已经证明了前所未有的效率，在要求低驱动电压和低能耗方面，电润湿（EW）被提出作为一个更一般和直接的机制，基于表面张力微致动的微器件液体运动。本计画的主要目的是为电子战微驱动器建立科学与制程技术基础。计划研究，开发和表征这种新的微驱动机制。目标结果是一种高能效但简单实用的用于微尺度流体装置的液体驱动方法。这项技术在化学和生物医学微型器件中有许多应用。一个原型的DNA打印头驱动的EW机制将被开发，以展示该技术，并说明一些潜在的影响，将实现本研究中提出的基本微驱动的进步。

Chang-Jin "CJ" Kim, UCLA ENG-9980874Microactuation by Electrical Control of Surface TensionThe goal of this Engineering Microsystems: "XYZ" on a Chip project is to establish surface tension as a main source of force for moving liquid media in microdevices. Surface tension dominates most conventional forces as things scale down to micrometers. Encouraged by the recent success of liquid micromotors, which have demonstrated unprecedented efficiency in terms of requiring both low driving voltage and low energy consumption, electrowetting (EW) is proposed as a more general and direct mechanism upon which to base surface-tension microactuation for microdevice liquid movement. The main goal of this project is to establish the foundation of science and fabrication technology for EW-based microactuation. A plan to study, develop, and characterize this new microactuation mechanism is described. The targeted result is a highly energy-efficient yet simple and practical liquid-driving method for microscale fluidic devices. for This technology will find numerous applications in chemical and biomedical microdevices. A prototype DNA printhead actuated by the EW mechanism will be developed to both demonstrate the technology and to illustrate some of the potential impact to be realized by the fundamental microactuation advances proposed in this study.