A Quadrature-Based Tunable Radio-Frequency Sensor for the Detection and Analysis of Aqueous Solutions

A highly tunable and sensitive radio-frequency (RF) sensor is presented for the measurement of aqueous-solution dielectric properties. Two quadrature hybrids are utilized to achieve destructive interference that eliminates the probing signals at both measurement ports. As a result, weak signals of m...

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Veröffentlicht in:IEEE microwave and wireless components letters 2014-07, Vol.24 (7), p.490-492
Hauptverfasser: Cui, Yan, He, Yuxi, Wang, Pingshan
Format: Artikel
Sprache:eng
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Zusammenfassung:A highly tunable and sensitive radio-frequency (RF) sensor is presented for the measurement of aqueous-solution dielectric properties. Two quadrature hybrids are utilized to achieve destructive interference that eliminates the probing signals at both measurement ports. As a result, weak signals of material-under-test (MUT) are elevated for high sensitivity detections at different frequencies. The sensor is demonstrated through measuring 2-propanol-water solution permittivity at 0.01 mole fraction concentration level from ~ 4 GHz to ~ 12 GHz. De-ionized water and methanol-water solution are used to calibrate the sensor for quantitative MUT analysis through our proposed model. Micro-meter coplanar waveguides (CPW) are fabricated as RF sensing electrodes. A polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) microfluidic channel is employed to introduce 250 nL liquid, of which ~ 1 nL is effectively the MUT. The permittivity and the relaxation time of 2-propanol-water solution are obtained. Compared with our power divider based sensors, the differential reflection coefficients in this work provide additional information that complements the transmission coefficient methods.
ISSN:1531-1309
2771-957X
1558-1764
2771-9588
DOI:10.1109/LMWC.2014.2316235