Frequency-Tunable Slot Antenna Using Continuous Electrowetting of Liquid Metal

This paper presents a frequency-tunable slot antenna which uses liquid metal to vary the electrical length of the radiating aperture. The liquid metal is driven by continuous electrowetting (CEW), a process by which motion is induced in a liquid-metal droplet through the application of a potential gradient across an electrolytic carrier fluid. The process is both fully reversible and repeatable, and the low-voltage electrical driving mechanism allows for simpler integration into electronic architectures than more common hydraulic methods. We believe this is the first instance of CEW being used to create a tunable RF device.