RESONANT SENSOR AND AN ASSOCIATED SENSING METHOD

• US 20140002111A1
• Filed: 06/29/2012
• Published: 01/02/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/29/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: GE Infrastructure Technology, LLC (General Electric Company)
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: Potyrailo, Radislav Alexandrovich, Surman, Cheryl Margaret, Go, Steven Yuehin, Lee, Yongjae
• Granted Patent: US 9,538,657 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 324/655
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 27/026 Dielectric impedance spectroscopy electrochemical impedance spectroscopy for measuring corrosion G01N17/02
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 27/3278 involving nanosized elements, e.g. nanogaps or nanoparticles nanopores G01N33/48721; magnetic beads G01N27/745
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 33/0031 comprising two or more sensors, e.g. a sensor array electrochemical electrode arrays G01N27/27
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 33/48792 Data management, e.g. communication with processing unit for in vivo diagnostics A61B5/0002; transmission systems for measured values G08C
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 1/16 incorporating printed electric components, e.g. printed resistor, capacitor, inductor
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 2201/0338 Layered conductor, e.g. layered metal substrate, layered finish layer, layered thin film adhesion layer etched tri-metal structure H05K2201/0361
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 2201/09263 Meander
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 2201/10151 Sensor
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/4913 Assembling to base an electrical component, e.g., capacitor, etc.

Abstract

A sensing system includes an inductor-capacitor-resistor (LCR) resonator sensor having a substrate, a plurality of first sensing elements mutually spaced apart and disposed on the substrate, and a sensing material film being disposed on a first sensing region of the corresponding first sensing element.

Claims

1. A sensing system for selective analyte detection in presence of interferences, comprising:

an inductor-capacitor-resistor (LCR) resonator sensor comprising;

a substrate;

a plurality of first sensing elements mutually spaced apart and disposed on the substrate; and

a sensing material film being disposed on a first sensing region of the corresponding first sensing element.

2. The sensing system of claim 1, wherein the LCR resonator sensor further comprises a plurality of second sensing elements, each second sensing element disposed overlapping the corresponding first sensing element.

3. The sensing system of claim 2, wherein the at least one sensing material film is disposed covering the plurality of first sensing elements and the second sensing elements.

4. The sensing system of claim 2, further comprising at least one other sensing material film disposed on a second sensing region of the corresponding second sensing element.

5. The sensing system of claim 4, wherein the at least one sensing material film and the at least one other sensing material film comprises a same type of sensing material film.

6. The sensing system of claim 4, the at least one sensing material film is a different type compared to the at least one other sensing material film.

7. The sensing system of claim 2, further comprising a plurality of dielectric isolators, each dielectric isolator being disposed between the corresponding first and second sensing elements.

8. The sensing system of claim 2, wherein the plurality of first sensing elements and the second sensing elements form a sensing coil structure.

9. The sensing system of claim 8, wherein a first end of each first sensing element is coupled to one end of the corresponding second sensing element, and a second end of each first sensing element is coupled to another end of the corresponding second sensing element.

10. The sensing system of claim 2, wherein the first sensing element is non-galvanically coupled to second sensing element.

11. The sensing system of claim 1, wherein the LCR resonator sensor further comprises a plurality of holes formed in the substrate, for enabling flow of an analyte through the holes, wherein the holes are disposed between the plurality of first sensing elements.

12. The sensing system of claim 11, wherein the LCR resonant sensor is a multivariable LCR resonant sensor;

wherein an electric field distribution between the plurality of first sensing elements is substantially uniform along a plane of the plurality of first sensing elements and the holes.

13. The sensing system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of first sensing elements is disposed on a first surface of the substrate.

14. The sensing system of claim 13, wherein the LCR resonator sensor further comprises a plurality of second sensing elements disposed on a second surface opposite to the first surface of the substrate.

15. The sensing system of claim 14, further comprising a plurality of holes formed in the substrate, wherein the holes are disposed between the plurality of first sensing elements and the plurality of second sensing elements.

16. The sensing system of claim 15, further comprising at least one other sensing material film disposed on a second sensing region of the corresponding second sensing element.

17. The sensing system of claim 1, wherein the LCR resonator sensor comprises a split ring resonator sensor.

18. The sensing system of claim 17, wherein the LCR resonator sensor comprises a serpentine sensing region configured to tune electric field penetration.

19. The sensing system of claim 1, wherein the LCR resonator sensor further comprises a memory chip.

20. The sensing system of claim 1, wherein each sensing material film comprises at least one of a polymer, an organic material, an inorganic material, a biological material, a nanomaterial, a nanocomposite material, and a colloidal crystal material.

21. The sensing system of claim 1, wherein the sensing system is used for measurement of at least one of physical, chemical, and biological properties of ananalyte.

22. A method for measuring one or more conditions of a sample, the method comprising:

transmitting an electromagnetic signal from an inductor-capacitor-resistor (LCR) resonator sensor;

wherein the LCR resonator sensor comprises a substrate;

a plurality of first sensing elements mutually spaced apart and disposed on the substrate; and

at least one sensing film being disposed on a first sensing region of the corresponding first sensing element; and

sensing the LCR resonator sensor signal via a detector.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the step of sensing comprises determining impedance spectrum of the at least one sensing material film and calculating dielectric change based on the impedance spectrum, using multivariate analysis.

24. A method for fabrication of an inductor-capacitor-resistor (LCR) resonator sensor, comprising:

applying a plurality of first sensing elements on a substrate;

applying at least one dielectric layer on the plurality of first sensing elements, and

applying a plurality of second sensing elements on the at least one dielectric layer, each second sensing element being disposed corresponding to position of each first sensing element such that the at least one sensing layer is disposed between the first and second sensing elements;

wherein shape of the substrate does not change during fabrication.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the at least one dielectric layer has a thickness in a range of one to five thousand nanometers.

26. A method for fabrication of an inductor-capacitor-resistor (LCR) resonator sensor, comprising:

applying a plurality of first sensing elements on a substrate;

applying at least one dielectric layer on the plurality of first sensing elements, and

applying a plurality of second sensing elements on the at least one dielectric layer, each second sensing element being disposed corresponding to position of each first sensing element such that the at least one dielectric layer is disposed between the plurality of first and second sensing elements; and

removing a portion of dielectric layer to form a horizontal gap between the plurality of first and second sensing elements;

wherein shape of the substrate does not change during fabrication.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein the gap is a sensing region.

28. The method of claim 26, wherein the LCR resonant sensor is a multivariable LCR resonant sensor.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein the at least one dielectric layer has a thickness in a range of one to five thousand nanometers.

30. The method of claim 26, wherein the gap is in the range of one nanometer to thousand nanometers.

31. The method of claim 26, wherein the gap is in the range of one micrometer to thousand micrometers.

32. The method of claim 26, wherein the gap is in the range of one nanometer to thousand micrometers.

33. The method of claim 26, wherein the gap is in the range of one nanometer to thousand nanometers.