The Effect of the Terminal Functional Groups on Fluoropolymer on Electrowetting Device Performance
Eri Oishi,
Noritoshi Araki,
Teruya Goto,
Hiroshi Awano,
Tatsuhiro Takahashi
Affiliations
Eri Oishi
Department of Organic Materials Science, Graduate School of Organic Materials Science, Yamagata University, 4-3-16 Jonan, Yonezawa, Yamagata 992-8510, Japan
Noritoshi Araki
ARM Technologies Co., Ltd., #213 Sagamihara Incubation Center SIC-1, 5-4-21 Nishihashimoto, Midori-ku, Sagamihara, Kanagawa 252-0131, Japan
Teruya Goto
Department of Organic Materials Science, Graduate School of Organic Materials Science, Yamagata University, 4-3-16 Jonan, Yonezawa, Yamagata 992-8510, Japan
Hiroshi Awano
Department of Organic Materials Science, Graduate School of Organic Materials Science, Yamagata University, 4-3-16 Jonan, Yonezawa, Yamagata 992-8510, Japan
Tatsuhiro Takahashi
Department of Organic Materials Science, Graduate School of Organic Materials Science, Yamagata University, 4-3-16 Jonan, Yonezawa, Yamagata 992-8510, Japan
Electrowetting on dielectric (EWOD) devices were fabricated using two hydrophobic organic fluoropolymers, comprising CYTOP (a product name) having different chemical structures only at the terminal functional groups. These devices were subsequently characterized by applying a range of direct current (DC) voltages. The data demonstrated that the EWOD performance was dramatically improved upon incorporating a CYTOP polymer having highly polar terminal functional groups, as compared to a polymer having terminal groups with lower polarity. The new finding about the positive effect of highly polar terminal functional groups on the enhancement of EWOD was exhibited through various careful experiments, changing only the quantitative amount of polar terminal functional groups while keeping other factors constant (thickness, substrate, etc.).
