Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha Corporation

Sharp Life Science (Eu) Limited

Hao Li

Tomoko Teranishi

Tomohiro Kosaka

Shinya Kadono Kadono

Hiroyuki Moriwaki

Takeshi Hara

Shigeyasu Mori

Eiji Satoh

Tadashi Ohtake

Kenichi Kitoh

Fumitoshi Yasuo

Yunting Shen

Manabu Daio

An electrowetting device includes an electrode substrate including a first substrate, a plurality of first drive electrodes formed on the first substrate, and a water-repellent insulating layer formed on the plurality of first drive electrodes, a counter substrate including a second substrate, and disposed so as to face the electrode substrate with a predetermined gap therebetween, a sealing portion provided in a sealing region at the electrode substrate, and bonding the electrode substrate and the counter substrate, and an injection valve for injecting a droplet into the gap, the injection valve being located in the sealing region and including a first valve body formed of an electric field responsive gel.

Electrowetting device

Provided is a microfluidic device that, as compared with a conventional microfluidic device, (i) is smoother in surface of a water-repellent layer provided above a segment electrode and (ii) makes it easier for microfluid provided in the surface of the water-repellent layer to slide. A microfluidic device () includes: an array substrate () including a plurality of electrodes (); and a counter substrate () including at least one electrode (), the array substrate () and the counter substrate () having therebetween an internal space () in which to cause an electroconductive droplet () to move across the plurality of electrodes (), and the plurality of electrodes () being provided on a first flattening resin layer () and each being a light-blocking metal electrode.

Microfluidic device

In an electrode substrate (), a contact hole () provided in a first planarizing resin layer () is filled with a second planarizing resin layer (). A TFT () is electrically connected to an electrode () via the contact hole (). On the electrode (), a water repellent layer () is provided via a dielectric layer () including the second planarizing resin layer () and an ion barrier layer ().

Electrode substrate, method for producing same, and electronic device

An embodiment of the present invention provides a microfluidic device into which fluid can be more easily introduced. A microfluidic device () is configured such that: (i) an upper substrate () is bonded to a lower substrate () via a sealing pattern () in such a manner that at least a portion of an edge of the upper substrate () is located inward of an edge of the lower substrate (); and (ii) the sealing pattern () includes at least one gap () that is provided at a position where the edge of the upper substrate () is located inward of the edge of the lower substrate ().

The present invention provides an optical modulator that prevents aggregation of shape-anisotropic particles. The optical modulator of the present invention includes: () a first substrate and a second substrate that are disposed to face each other; () an optical modulation layer disposed between the first substrate and the second substrate; and () a vertical alignment film. The optical modulation layer () contains: (A) liquid crystal molecules that have a positive anisotropy of dielectric constant with a value of the anisotropy &#x394;&#x3b5; of 10 or more; and (B) shape-anisotropic particles each including a core material and a coating layer that is formed of a material containing a fluorine atom and constitutes an outer surface of the shape-anisotropic particles. The first substrate includes a pair of electrodes. The liquid crystal molecules and the shape-anisotropic particles are aligned perpendicular to the first substrate with no voltage applied to the electrodes and are tilted parallel to the first substrate by a transverse electric field generated by application of voltage to the electrodes. The liquid crystal molecules have a surface energy in the range of 27 to 35 mN/m. The vertical alignment film has a surface energy in the range of 30 to 40 mN/m.

Growing community of inventors

Sakai, Japan

Hao Li