Design of biochip microelectrode arrays for cell arrangement

Abstract

This paper focuses on the use of dielectrophoresis (DEP) for particle arrangement on a biochip. Our aim was to propose a device that enables the positioning of cells at regularly spaced locations using a 2D microelectrode array (prior to electropermeabilization, for instance). Whereas the use of the positive DEP force is mainly restricted to the collection of particles at electrode edges, negative DEP can be used advantageously to confine particles at existing field minima, i.e. away from the electrodes. Three different microelectrode geometries designed for negative DEP are compared in this paper. The first two configurations are composed of two interdigitated networks of triangular and rectangular shape microelectrodes respectively. In the third type of microsystem, electrode plates of opposite polarities are alternated and powered thanks to a multilayer structure. The results obtained show that a matrix arrangement of thousands of particles (such as cells, latex beads) on a large 2D microelectrode array is possible using negative DEP.