Abstract
In this paper, we propose a novel microwave microfluidic sensor with dual-sensing capability. The sensor is based on a dual-mode resonator that consists of a folded microstrip line loaded with interdigital lines and a stub at the plane of symmetry. Due to the specific configuration, the resonator exhibits two entirely independent resonant modes, which allows simultaneous sensing of two fluids using a resonance shift method. The sensor is designed in a multilayer configuration with the proposed resonator and two separated microfluidic channels—one intertwined with the interdigital lines and the other positioned below the stub. The circuit has been fabricated using low-temperature co-fired ceramics technology and its performance was verified through the measurement of its responses for different fluids in the microfluidic channels. The results confirm the dual-sensing capability with zero mutual influence as well as good overall performance. Besides an excellent potential for dual-sensing applications, the proposed sensor is a good candidate for application in mixing fluids and cell counting.
Highlights
Microwave sensors have attracted considerable attention in the last decade since they operate in the range of frequencies 0.3–30 GHz, which are non-destructive and safe, yet having excellent detection potential even in the case of small sample volume
Besides split ring resonators (SRR) [4,9,14,15,16,19,20,21], which have been widely exploited in resonant-type sensors, there have been proposed sensors with cavity [6,29] and stepped impedance resonators (SIR) [5,7]
We present a compact microwave microfluidic sensor based on a dual-mode resonator with two independent resonant modes that can be used for concurrent sensing of two analytes without mutual influence
Summary
Microwave sensors have attracted considerable attention in the last decade since they operate in the range of frequencies 0.3–30 GHz, which are non-destructive and safe, yet having excellent detection potential even in the case of small sample volume. The microwave sensors in [5,16,17,18,19] are aimed at multiple sensing and employ one read-out system, such operation is achieved using multiple, physically well-separated sensing elements, leading to cumbersome structures. One solution to this challenge would be the employment of a resonator that provides multiple, yet mutually independent resonant modes. We present a compact microwave microfluidic sensor based on a dual-mode resonator with two independent resonant modes that can be used for concurrent sensing of two analytes without mutual influence. Simulated and measured responses will be given and the sensor’s performance discussed
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