At the start, electrodes were made mainly from wires or metal sheets. 
Nowadays, the electric field in DEP is created by means of electrodes which minimize the magnitude of the voltage needed. This has been possible using fabrication techniques such as photolithography, laser ablation and electron beam patterning.
These small electrodes allow the handling of small bioparticles. 
The most used electrode geometries are isometric, polynomial, interdigitated, and crossbar. Isometric geometry is effective for particle manipulation with DEP but repelled particles do not collect in well defined areas and so separation into two homogeneous groups is difficult. Polynomial is a new geometry producing well defined differences in regions of high and low forces and so particles could be collected by positive and negative DEP. This electrode geometry showed that the electrical field was highest at the middle of the inter-electrode gaps. Interdigitated geometry comprises alternating electrode fingers of opposing polarities and is mainly used for dielectrophoretic trapping and analysis. Crossbar geometry is potentially useful for networks of interconnects.