High sensitivity tunable radio frequency sensors

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9464994-B2
Application number	US-201414445433-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 29, 2014
Priority date	Jul 30, 2013
Publication date	Oct 11, 2016
Grant date	Oct 11, 2016

Abstract

Highly sensitive and tunable RF sensors that provide detection and analysis of single cells and particles are provided. The tunable RF sensors are configured as tunable interferometers, wherein cells or particles to be analyzed are passed through a channel, such as a microfluidic channel, across waveguides corresponding to reference and test branches of the interferometers. A network analyzer coupled to the interferometers can be configured to measure a plurality of scattering parameters, such as transmission scattering coefficients (S 21 ) of the reference and test branches, to evaluate characteristics of cells passing through the channel. A plurality of tunable interferometers may be employed, each interferometer operating in different frequency bands such that information obtain from the plurality of interferometers may be combined to provide further information.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An RF sensor for a material under test, comprising:
a plurality of interferometers, each interferometer comprising one or more fluidic channels each disposed across a reference branch and a test branch; the reference branch comprising a first waveguide and the test branch comprising a second waveguide;
a first port associated with each of the plurality of interferometers, the first port configured to separate signals between a first transmission line and a second transmission line, the first transmission line operable to provide a reference RF signal to the first waveguide and the second transmission line operable to provide a test RF signal to the second waveguide;
a second port associated with each of the plurality of interferometers, the second port configured to recombine signals from the first transmission line and the second transmission line;
a signal analyzer coupled to the first port and the second port of each of the plurality of interferometers, the signal analyzer operable to measure one or more scattering parameters;
wherein each of the plurality of interferometers is associated with a different frequency band range.

2. The RF sensor of claim 1 , wherein the signal analyzer is operable to provide RF energy associated with a different frequency band to each of the plurality of interferometers.

3. The RF sensor of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of interferometers comprise a first interferometer associated with a frequency band of 20 MHz to 1 GHz, a second interferometer associated with a frequency band of 1 GHz to 18 GHz, and a third interferometer associated with a frequency band of 18 GHz to 40 GHz.

4. The RF sensor of claim 1 , wherein the one or more scattering parameters comprise a voltage gain transmission coefficient |S 21 |.

5. The RF sensor of claim 1 , wherein the one or more fluidic channels comprise a microfluidic channel or a nano-fluidic channel.

6. The RF sensor of claim 1 , wherein the one or more fluidic channels comprise gold.

7. The RF sensor of claim 1 , wherein the first transmission line and second transmission line comprise one or more tuning elements coupled in series with the respective first and second waveguides.

8. The RF sensor of claim 7 , wherein the one or more tuning elements comprise an attenuator circuit.

9. The RF sensor of claim 7 , wherein the one or more tuning elements comprise a phase shift circuit.

10. The RF sensor of claim 1 , wherein the test RF signal has a 180° phase difference relative to the reference RF signal.

11. The RF sensor of claim 10 , wherein each interferometer comprises two 90° hybrid circuits.

12. The RF sensor of claim 1 , wherein the signal analyzer is a variable network analyzer.

13. The RF sensor of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of interferometers are selectively couplable to the signal analyzer by one or more switches.

14. The RF sensor of claim 1 , wherein the material under test comprises a biological cell.

15. The RF sensor of claim 1 , wherein the first waveguide and the second waveguide are coplanar waveguides.

16. The RF sensor of claim 1 , wherein the first waveguide and the second waveguide are microstrip waveguides.

17. The RF sensor of claim 1 , wherein the signal analyzer comprises one or more processors and a display, the one or more processors operable to provide a waveform associated with the one or more scattering parameters for display on a display device.

Assignees

• Univ Clemson

Inventors

• Wang Pingshan
• Cui Yan
• He Yuxi
• Moline David
• Sun Jiwei

Classifications

• G01N22/00 Primary

  Investigating or analysing materials by the use of microwaves or radio waves, i.e. electromagnetic waves with a wavelength of one millimetre or more (G01N3/00 - G01N17/00, G01N24/00 take precedence) · CPC title

• G01B9/02

  Interferometers · CPC title

• G06F1/3203

  Power management, i.e. event-based initiation of a power-saving mode · CPC title

• G01N2015/1006

  for cytology · CPC title

• G01N15/1459

  the analysis being performed on a sample stream · CPC title