Demonstration of a wireless driven MEMS pond skater that uses EWOD technology

Mita, Yoshio, Li, Yifan, Kubota, Masanori, Morishita, S., Parkes, William, Haworth, Les, Flynn, Brian, Terry, Jonathan, Tang, T. and Ruthven, Alec (2009) Demonstration of a wireless driven MEMS pond skater that uses EWOD technology. Solid-State Electronics, 53 (7). pp. 798-802. ISSN 0038-1101

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Abstract

A silicon swimming robot or pond skating device has been demonstrated. It floats on liquid surfaces using surface tension and is capable of movement using electrowetting on dielectric (EWOD) based propulsion. Its dimensions are 6 × 9 mm and the driving mechanism involves first trapping air bubbles within the liquid onto the hydrophobic surface of the device. The air bubbles are then moved using EWOD, which provides the propulsion. The device employs a recently reported View the MathML source EWOD technology enabling a driving voltage of ≈15 V, which is low enough for RF power transmission, thus facilitating wire-free movement. A wired version has been measured to move 1.35 mm in 168 ms (a speed of 8 mm s−1). This low voltage-EWOD (<15 V) device, fabricated using a CMOS compatible process, is believed to be the world’s smallest swimming MEMS device that has no mechanical moving parts. The paper also reports results of EWOD droplet operation driven by wireless power transmission and demonstrates that such a wireless design can be successfully mounted on a floating EWOD device to produce movement.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	MEMS, robot, EWOD, electrowetting, wireless, tantalum pentoxide, low voltage, swimming robot, pond skater
Subjects:	F300 Physics H600 Electronic and Electrical Engineering
Department:	Faculties > Engineering and Environment > Mechanical and Construction Engineering
Depositing User:	Yifan Li
Date Deposited:	26 Feb 2015 14:37
Last Modified:	12 Oct 2019 22:53
URI:	http://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/21221

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