1. A device (102, 302) for measuring a geometry of a fluid meniscus (132, 328), comprising:
a fluid chamber (104, 304) comprising a first fluid (128, 324) and a second fluid (130, 326), which first fluid is electrically conductive, which second fluid is electrically insulating, and which first and second fluids are mutually immiscible and in contact with each other over a fluid meniscus (132, 328),
a main electrowetting electrode (118, 318) located in a main plane (319) and auxiliary electrowetting electrodes (120, 122, 124, 126) partially surrounding the fluid chamber and being located in respective auxiliary planes (121, 123, 125, 127), for controlling the geometry of the fluid meniscus,
a voltage source (134, 33) for providing a voltage between the main electrowetting electrode and a plurality of auxiliary electrowetting electrodes,
a measurement circuit (144, 342) for separately measuring capacitances between the main electrowetting electrode and at least two of the respective auxiliary electrowetting electrodes (320, 322), the measurement circuit comprising a multiplexer (212, 414) for demodulating a signal (210, 412) indicative for said respective capacitances.
2. The device according to claim 1, wherein the measurement circuit is arranged for measuring capacitances between the main electrowetting electrode and each of the auxiliary electrowetting electrodes (120, 122, 124, 12).
3. The device according to claim 1, comprising a voltage control circuit (154, 350) for controlling the voltage provided between the main electrowetting electrode and each of the auxiliary electrowetting electrodes based on a control signal (156, 343) provided by the measurement circuit.
4. The device according to claim 1, wherein the measurement circuit comprises an operational amplifier (204) for measuring capacitances between the main electrowetting electrode and at least two of the respective auxiliary electrowetting electrodes, wherein the operational amplifier is provided with a negative feedback loop (206), which negative feedback loop is provided with a measurement capacitor (208) having a predetermined measurement capacitance, wherein the operational amplifier is arranged for cooperation with an input (211) of the multiplexer.
5. The device according to claim 1, wherein the measurement circuit comprises a switching circuit (404) for measuring capacitances between the main electrowetting electrode and at least two of the respective auxiliary electrowetting electrodes, wherein the switching circuit comprises a first measurement capacitor (406) having a predetermined first measurement capacitance, and a second measurement capacitor (408) having a predetermined second measurement capacitance, wherein the first and second measurement capacitances are mutually different, the switching circuit further comprising a capacitance switch (410) for driving the first and second measurement capacitors in an alternating way, wherein the switching circuit is arranged for cooperation with an input (413) of the multiplexer.
6. The device according to claim 1, wherein the multiplexer is a time domain multiplexer (414), wherein the time domain multiplexer employs demodulation signals, each demodulation signal being a square wave signal having a low value and a high value, wherein the voltage source comprises voltage switches (331, 333, 407, 409) for alternatingly disconnecting the voltages corresponding to the high values of the respective demodulating values.
7. The device according to claims 1, wherein the multiplexer is a frequency domain multiplexer (212), wherein the voltage source is arranged for providing voltages at specific frequencies and wherein the frequency domain multiplexer employs demodulation signals each having a frequency component corresponding to the respective specific frequencies.
8. The device according to claim 1, wherein the first fluid has a first refractive index and the second fluid has a second refractive index, wherein the first and second refractive indices are mutually different.
9. The device according to claim 1, wherein the first fluid provides a first speed of sound and the and second fluid provides a second speed of sound, wherein the first and second speeds of sound are mutually different.
10. A catheter (140) comprising the device according to claim 1.
11. Use of the device according to claim 1, in a catheter for ultrasound applications.
12. Use of the device according to claim 1, in an optical storage drive.
13. Use of the device according to claim 1, in a photo camera.
14. A method for measuring a geometry of a fluid meniscus (132, 328) between an electrically conducting first fluid (128, 324) and an electrically insulating second fluid (130, 326) comprised in a fluid chamber (104, 304), the fluids being mutually immiscible, comprising steps (502, 504) of:
providing a voltage between a main electrowetting electrode (118, 318) located in a main plane (119, 319) and auxiliary electrowetting electrodes (120, 122, 124, 126) partially surrounding the fluid chamber and being located in an auxiliary planes (121, 123, 125, 127), and
separately measuring capacitances between the main electrowetting electrode and at least two of the auxiliary electrowetting electrodes (320, 322) by a measurement circuit (144, 342) comprising a multiplexer (212, 414).
15. The method according to claim 14, comprising a step (506) of controlling the voltage provided to the auxiliary electrowetting electrodes based on a signal provided by the measurement circuit.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A semiconductor device, comprising:
a first gate electrode structure buried in a semiconductor portion and comprising array stripes inside a first cell array of transistor cells and a contact stripe outside the first cell array, the array stripes of the first gate electrode structure structurally connected with each other and structurally connected with the contact stripe;
a second gate electrode structure buried in the semiconductor portion and comprising array stripes inside a second cell array of transistor cells, wherein the array stripes of the second gate electrode structure are structurally connected wit each other and an array isolation region of the semiconductor portion spatially separates the first and second gate electrode structures; and
a connection plug extending between a first surface of the semiconductor portion and the contact stripe of the first gate electrode structure.
2. The semiconductor device of claim 1, wherein the contact stripe is wider than the array stripes.
3. The semiconductor device of claim 1, wherein a fill structure extends between the first surface and the array stripes and a spacer structure from a material of the fill structure extends along the connection plug between the first surface and the first gate electrode structure.
4. The semiconductor device of claim 1, comprising at least one spacer stripe structurally connecting the array stripes with the contact stripe.
5. The semiconductor device of claim 1, comprising semiconductor fins between the array stripes, wherein separation structures spatially separate sections of the semiconductor fins adjoining the first surface.
6. The semiconductor device of claim 1, comprising a connection wiring directly adjoining both the connection plug assigned to the first cell array and sections of semiconductor fins assigned to the second cell array.
7. The semiconductor device of claim 1, wherein the array isolation region completely surrounds the first cell array in lateral directions parallel to the first surface.
8. A power semiconductor device with active drift zone, the power semiconductor device comprising:
a first gate electrode structure buried in a semiconductor portion and comprising array stripes inside a first cell array of transistor cells and a contact stripe outside the first cell array, the array stripes of the first gate electrode structure structurally connected with each other and with the contact stripe structurally connected with the array stripes;
a second gate electrode structure buried in the semiconductor portion and comprising array stripes inside a second cell array of transistor cells, wherein an array stripes of the second gate electrode structure are structurally connected with each other and an array isolation region of the semiconductor portion spatially separates the first and second gate electrode structures;
a connection plug extending between a first surface of the semiconductor portion and the contact stripe of the first gate electrode structure; and
a connection wiring directly adjoining active semiconductor areas of the transistor cells of the second cell array and the connection plug.