Modeling the trajectory of a microparticle in a dielectrophoresis device.

Abstract

International audienceMicro- and nanoparticles can be trapped by a nonuniform electric field through the effect of the dielectrophoretic principle. Dielectrophoresis DEP is used to separate, manipulate, and detect microparticles in several domains, such as in biological or carbon nanotube manipulations. Current methods to simulate the trajectory of microparticles under a DEP force field are based on finite element model FEM, which requires new simulations when electrode potential is changed, or on analytic equations limited to very simple geometries. In this paper, we propose a hybrid method, between analytic and numeric calculations and able to simulate complex geometries and to easily change the electrode potential along the trajectory. A small number of FEM simulations are used to create a database, which enables online calculation of the object trajectory as a function of electrode potentials