On-chip micromachined solenoid balun for RF-SOC applications

A transformer balun is fabricated by using a post-CMOS compatible MEMS process. The novel concave-suspended solenoid balun can be integrated with radio-frequency system-on-chips (RF-SOCs). In the frequency range 0.5-10 GHz, the tested balun shows less than 0.7 dB amplitude imbalance and less than 1.5deg phase imbalance. After tuning, the transformer balun can match between a 100 Omega single-ended port and two 50 Omega differential ports. At the two differential ports, insertion losses of -1.5 and -0.8 dB are obtained at 5-GHz centre frequency, more than 40% bandwidth of S ₁₁ is achieved.     

A micromachined silicon depth probe for multichannel neural recording

A process of making a new type of silicon depth-probe microelectrode array is described using a combination of plasma and wet etch. The plasma etch, which is done using a low temperature oxide (LTO) mask, enables probe thickness to be controlled over a range from 5 to 90 mu. Bending tests show that the probe's mechanical strength depends largely on shank thickness. More force can be applied to thicker shanks while thinner shanks are more flexible. One can then choose a thickness and corresponding mechanical strength using the process developed. The entire probe shaping process is performed only at low temperature, and thus is consistent with the standard CMOS fabrication. Using the probe in recording from rat's somatosensory cortex, we obtained four channel simultaneous recordings which showed clear independence among channels with a signal-to-noise ratio performance comparable with that obtained using other devices.     

In situ measurement of mechanical properties of polyimide filmsusing micromachined resonant string structures

Two in situ measurement schemes, using micromachined resonant string structures, for the measurement of the polyimide residual stress and polyimide/metal adhesion durability have been developed. The residual stress of polyimide films, DuPont PI-2555 and PI-2611, have been measured using a bulk micromachined string structure. According to the Rayleigh's method, the resonant frequency of a polyimide string can be related to the film stress. By measuring the resonant frequency of these polyimide strings, the residual stresses have been calculated. The measurement results of various strings have been compared with conventional measurement results, which shows that they are in good agreement. Also, a noble scheme to quantize the adhesion durability between a polyimide film and a metal film has been developed. This scheme is based on a polyimide/metal bimorph string structures, fabricated using a surface micromachining technique, vibrating with an alternating potential. The change of resonance profile of this string structure can be related to the degradation of adhesion strength at the polyimide/metal interface. Various polyimide/gold string structures have been fabricated using a surface micromachining with Cu sacrificial layers, and the resonant qualities have been monitored. Notable changes of resonant Q-factor and resonant frequency, due to the degradation of adhesion between the metal and polyimide, have been observed after 10 ⁸ cycles (string vibration) for the polyimide/gold bimorph strings. The changes of resonant Q-factor and resonant frequency over a time period (vibration cycles) have been monitored     

In vivo measurement of surgical gestures

Virtual reality techniques are now more and more widely used in the field of surgical training. However, the realism of the simulation devices requires a good knowledge of the mechanical behavior of the living organs. To provide perioperative measurement of laparoscopic surgical operations, we equipped a conventional operating grasper with a force sensor and a position sensor. The entire apparatus was connected to a PC that controlled the real-time data acquisition. After calibrating the sensors, we conducted three series of in vivo measurements on animals under video control. A standardized protocol was set up to perform various surgical gestures in a reproducible manner. Under these conditions, we can assess an original tool for a quantitative approach of surgical gestures' mechanics. The preliminary results will be extended by measurements during other operations and with other surgical instruments. The in vivo quantification of the mechanical interactions between operating instruments and anatomical structures is of great interest for the introduction of the force feedback in virtual surgery, for the modeling of the mechanical behavior of living organs, and for the design of new surgical instruments. This quantification of manipulations opens new prospects in the evaluation of surgical practices.     

A modular micromachined high-density connector system for biomedical applications

This paper presents a high-density, modular, low-profile, small, and removable connector system developed using micromachining technologies for biomedical applications. This system consists of a silicon or polyimide electrode with one end in contact with the biological tissue and its back-end supported in a titanium base (12.5 mm in diameter and 2.5 mm in height) that is fixed on the test subject. An external glass substrate (6 x 6 x 0.75 mm3), which supports a flexible polyimide diaphragm and CMOS buffers, is attached to the titanium base whenever electrical contact is required. The polyimide flexible diaphragm contains high-density gold electroplated pads (32 pads, each having an area of 100 x 100 micron 2 and separated by 150 microns) which match similar pads on the electrode back-end. When vacuum is applied between the two, the polyimide diaphragm deflects and the corresponding gold pads touch, therefore, establishing electrical connection. In vitro electrical tests in saline solution have been performed on a 32-site connector system demonstrating < 5 omega contact resistance, which remained stable after 70 connections, and -55 dB crosstalk at 1 kHz between adjacent channels. In vivo experiments have also confirmed the establishment of multiple contacts and have produced simultaneous biopotential recordings from the guinea pig occipital cortex.     

An ultralow-loss and broadband micromachined RF inductor for RFIC input-matching applications

In this brief, we demonstrate that ultralow-loss and broadband inductors can be obtained by using the CMOS process compatible backside inductively coupled-plasma (ICP) deep-trench technology to selectively remove the silicon underneath the inductors. The results show that a 378.5% increase in maximum Q-factor (Q/sub max/) (from 10.7 at 4.7 GHz to 51.2 at 14.9 GHz), a 22.1% increase in self-resonant frequency (f/sub SR/) (from 16.5 to 20.15 GHz), a 16.3% increase (from 0.86 to 0.9999) in maximum available power gain (G/sub Amax/) at 5 GHz, and a 0.654-dB reduction (from 0.654 dB to 4.08/spl times/10/sup -4/ dB) in minimum noise figure (NF/sub min/) at 5 GHz were achieved for a 2-nH inductor after the backside ICP dry etching. In addition, state-of-the-art ultralow-loss G/sub Amax//spl les/0.99 (i.e., NF/sub min//spl les/0.045 dB) for frequencies lower than 12.5 GHz was achieved for this 2-nH inductor after the backside inductively coupled-plasma dry etching. This means this on-chip inductor-on-air can be used to realize an ultralow-noise 3.1-10.6 GHz ultrawide-band RFIC. These results show that the CMOS process compatible backside ICP etching technique is very promising for system-on-a-chip applications.     

In vitro simultaneous measurement of refractive index and thickness of biological tissue by the low coherence interferometry

We proposed and demonstrated in vitro simultaneous measurement of refractive index and thickness of biological tissue. The technique is based on the low coherence interferometry combined with precise translation stages. Refractive indices were determined with the accuracy of less than 1% for tissue samples of a few hundred micron thickness, including chicken tissue, human tooth and nail. Simultaneous measurement of refractive index and thickness of multilayer tissue are also demonstrated.     

In vivo measurement of the brain and skull resistivities using an EIT-based method and realistic models for the head

In vivo measurements of equivalent resistivities of skull (rho(skull)) and brain (rho(brain)) are performed for six subjects using an electric impedance tomography (EIT)-based method and realistic models for the head. The classical boundary element method (BEM) formulation for EIT is very time consuming. However, the application of the Sherman-Morrison formula reduces the computation time by a factor of 5. Using an optimal point distribution in the BEM model to optimize its accuracy, decreasing systematic errors of numerical origin, is important because cost functions are shallow. Results demonstrate that rho(skull)/rho(brain) is more likely to be within 20 and 50 rather than equal to the commonly accepted value of 80. The variation in rho(brain)(average = 301 omega x cm, SD = 13%) and rho(skull)(average = 12230 omega x cm, SD = 18%) is decreased by half, when compared with the results using the sphere model, showing that the correction for geometry errors is essential to obtain realistic estimations. However, a factor of 2.4 may still exist between values of rho(skull)/rho(brain) corresponding to different subjects. Earlier results show the necessity of calibrating rho(brain) and rho(skull) by measuring them in vivo for each subject, in order to decrease errors associated with the electroencephalogram inverse problem. We show that the proposed method is suited to this goal.     

Identification of biological tissue using chirped probe THz imaging

We consider the application of pulsed THz imaging systems in biomedical diagnostics and mail/packaging inspection. The sub-millimetre spectroscopic measurements obtained from T-ray systems contain a wealth of information about the sample under test. We demonstrate that different types of tissue can be classified based on their terahertz response measured with the chirped probe pulse technique. We demonstrate the performance of a quadratic classifier using linear filter models for feature extraction in the discrimination between different tissues.

Modern THz systems are hindered by the slow acquisition speed. The chirped probe pulse technique offers a significant improvement in this context. We present the terahertz responses of biological samples measured using a chirped probe pulse, and discuss the problem of data processing and extracting sample characteristics.     

球面近场测试高阶探头补偿算法及其在超宽带探头上的应用

为了提高基于超宽带探头的球面近场天线测试系统精度,相应的探头补偿算法需要考虑超宽带探头的高阶方位模式.文中采用文献[3]中基于球面波的迭代法方案实现了高效高精度的高阶探头补偿算法,并将其应用到一种工作在2~18 GHz的超宽带双脊喇叭探头中.同时以偶极子阵列为例,研究了本文算法相较于传统低阶算法的精度优势,测试了该算法在多种条件下的收敛性.结果显示:在相同条件下,高频端比低频端的高阶补偿效应更加明显;当待测天线完全落在该探头的主瓣6 dB宽度区域内时,算法均可以在几次(小于10)迭代后达到理想的精度.因此,本文算法可以有效地提高基于超宽带探头的球面近场测试系统的精度,并且具有较高的单机计算效率.     

Novel micromachined lumped band pass filter for 5.2 GHz WLAN applications

This paper describes the design, manufacturing and experiments of a lumped element band pass filter in a new topology. The design starts from a second order capacitive coupled resonator topology. An additional series inductor is inserted in the filter classical topology, for shifting two transmission zeros on the real frequency axes in the filter's band stop, to improve the high frequency response. Design equations for the new band stop resonance frequency are presented together with the analysis of the correspondence between the band pass and band stop attenuation vs. the quality factor of the shunt and series inductors used. The filter is supported on a 6.4 μm thin dielectric membrane, and is manufactured using silicon micromachining, in CPW technology. Measurements illustrated a minimum 2.75 dB insertion loss at 5.5 GHz in the band pass, and more than 40 dB attenuation, at 8 GHz.     

A probe for organ impedance measurement

In this paper, we describe the theory and practical implementation of an electrical impedance probe for making in vivo measurements of the electrical admittance of living tissue. The probe uses concentric annular electrodes and is shown to sample a more localized, yet greater, volume of tissue than the standard four-electrode probe. We have developed a mathematical model for the conduction of current between the probe electrodes assuming that we are investigating a uniform, isotropic, semi-infinite region and taking into account the contact impedance between the electrodes and the organ. The electric fields produced by the probe have been calculated by solving a weakly singular Fredholm integral equation of the second kind. The size and position of the probe electrodes have been optimized to maximize both the accuracy in the admittance measurement and insensitivity to contact impedance. A probe and driving hardware have been constructed and experimental results are provided showing the accuracy of admittance measurements at 50 and 640 KHz.     

In vivo measurement of fundus pulsations by laser interferometry

A new noninvasive interferometric technique is described that yields information about the hemodynamic conditions at the fundus. Typical results as obtained from normal subjects are presented and briefly discussed. There is a typical position-dependent time course of the blood pulse induced dilatation of the fundus tissue.     

In vitro and in vivo real-time imaging with ultrasonic limited diffraction beams

Recently, there has been great interest in a new class of solutions to the isotropic/homogeneous scaler wave equation which represents localized waves or limited diffraction beams in electromagnetics, optics, and acoustics. Applications of these solutions to ultrasonic medical imaging, tissue characterization, and nondestructive evaluation of materials have also been reported. The authors report a real-time medical imager which uses limited diffraction Bessel beams, X-waves, Axicons, or conventional beams. Results (in vitro and in vivo) show that the images obtained with limited diffraction beams have higher resolution and good contrast over larger depth of field compared to images obtained with conventional focused beams. These results suggest the potential clinical usefulness of limited diffraction beams.     

In vivo measurement of swine endocardial convective heat transfer coefficient

We measured the endocardial convective heat transfer coefficient h at 22 locations in the cardiac chambers of 15 pigs in vivo. A thin-film Pt catheter tip sensor in a Wheatstone-bridge circuit, similar to a hot wire/film anemometer, measured h. Using fluoroscopy, we could precisely locate the steerable catheter sensor tip and sensor orientation in pigs' cardiac chambers. With flows, h varies from 2500 to 9500 W/m2 x K. With zero flow, h is approximately 2400 W/m2 x K. These values of h can be used for the finite element method modeling of radiofrequency cardiac catheter ablation.     

Optical probe for absolute measurement of surface-acoustic-wave amplitude

A simple method is proposed for absolute measurement of s.a.w. mechanical deformation normal to the surface of propagation. Experimental results are given with an error smaller than 5%.     

In vivo measurement of tumor conductiveness with the magnetic bioimpedance method

A noninvasive electromagnetic method has been developed that can effectively measure the in-vivo conductivity difference between rat tumor lines having a low and high metastatic potential. These tumor lines are used in the study of human prostate tumor.     

In vivo Doppler shift measurements using multimode fiber-opticcatheters

A new fiber-optic catheter for in vivo blood-flow measurements has been developed. The catheter is designed to measure blood flow in both the forward (toward the catheter tip) and reverse (away from the catheter tip) flow directions. It consists of two multimode optical fibers with core diameter of 50 μm and cladding diameter of 125 μm. One fiber transmits the laser beam into blood and the other receives the backscattered light from the erythrocytes within the probe volume. In the flow experiment, it was found that the flow within the boundary layer is indeed laminar and, hence, the relationship between the Doppler shift frequencies and the flow velocities is linear, thereby making the linear calibration possible for predicting the free stream flow velocity. Plots of the maximum shift frequency (frequency at which the Doppler spectrum disappeared into the noise spectrum) against the flow velocities are found to be more linear in both the forward and reverse flow directions than that of the dominant shift frequency (frequency with the highest amplitude). These results were reaffirmed by the numerical flow simulation along the catheter side wall     

In vivo and real-time measurement of magnetic nanoparticles distribution in animals by scanning SQUID biosusceptometry for biomedicine study

Magnetic nanoparticles have been widely applied to biomagnetism, such as drug deliver, magnetic labeling, and contrast agent for in vivo image, etc. To localize the distribution of these magnetic particles in living organism is the first important issue to confirm the effects of magnetic nanoparticles and also evaluate the possible untoward effects. In this study, a scanning high T(c) rf-SQUID superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDs) biosusceptometry, composed of static SQUID unit and scanning coil sets, is developed for biomedicine study with the advantages of easy operation and unshielded environment. The characteristics tests showed that the system had the low noise of 8 pT/Hz at 400 Hz and the high sensitivity with the minimum detectable magnetization around 4.5 × 10(-3) EMU at distance of 13 mm. A magnetic nanoparticle detection test, performed by ex vivo scanning of the magnetic fluids filled capillary under swine skin for simulation of blood vessels in living bodies, confirmed that the system is feasible for dynamic tracking of magnetic nanoparticles. Based on this result, we performed further studies in rats to clarify the dynamic distribution of magnetic nanoparticle in living organism for the pharmacokinetics analysis like drug delivers, and propose the possible physiological metabolism of intravenous magnetic nanoparticles.