Abstract: The aim of the invention is to convectively move at least one liquid in a channel of a microsystem which comprises a predetermined channel direction. To this end, the liquid is, in a partial section of the channel, subjected to an electric field gradient and optionally to a thermal gradient. The gradients are generated in the partial section corresponding to a predetermined field direction, whereby the field direction differs from the channel direction.

Abstract: An electrode configuration for field cages, especially in microsystems, comprises a large number of electrodes in which an electrical potential can be applied to each end region through a feed region. The end region is arranged to form the field cage and inhomogeneous shielding fields outside the field cage. To reduce thermal convection, the feed region has a strip form whose width is substantially smaller than characteristic dimensions of the end region.

Abstract: An electroporation and/or fusion treatment of microscopic objects occurs in a medium between at least two electrodes, with the electrodes being miniaturized electrodes in a microsystem with a channel structure which is set up for the flow-through of the medium with the objects.

Abstract: A method and a device for position and/or type-selective control of the position and/or change of position of suspended particles in a multielectrode system by the effect of polarization forces that are induced in the particles by alternating electric fields in the multielectrode system, which particles comprise biological or synthetic objects with dimensions essentially corresponding to those of biological cells or cell organelles, viruses or macromolecules, base on the fact that the multielectrode system forms with the particle suspension an electrical network, in which means of resonance are provided for creating a resonant increase or damping of the field strength of the alternating electric fields at certain frequencies in at least one locally demarcated region of the multielectrode system.

Abstract: In the method proposed, microparticles suspended in a liquid or droplets suspended in a liquid with which they are immiscible are shaped by high-frequency electric fields in a three-dimensional electrode array of a size in the micrometer or submicrometer range and subsequently consolidated by prior art chemical bonding procedures or by physical methods. The disposition, geometry and control of the electrodes determine the shape of the particles. The particles themselves must have a conductivity and/or relative dielectric constant lower than the solution surrounding them. For some, this can be achieved only at certain frequencies in the kHz and MHz band which are determined by the passive electrical properties of the particles and the surrounding solution. The particles or droplets are repelled by the electrodes so that they are shaped in the free solution without making contact with any surface and can then be consolidated.