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A Biocompatible SiC RF Antenna for In-Vivo Sensing Applications

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 June 2012

Shamima Afroz
Affiliation:
Department of Electrical Engineering, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, 33620 USA
Sylvia W Thomas
Affiliation:
Department of Electrical Engineering, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, 33620 USA
Gokhan Mumcu
Affiliation:
Department of Electrical Engineering, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, 33620 USA
Christopher W. Locke
Affiliation:
Department of Electrical Engineering, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, 33620 USA
Stephen E Saddow
Affiliation:
Department of Electrical Engineering, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, 33620 USA Department of Molecular Pharmacology and Physiology, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, 33620 USA
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Abstract

In this study, we present a small-size implantable RF antenna (biosensor) which is made of fully biocompatible material, cubic silicon carbide. Silicon Carbide is one of the few semiconducting materials that combine biocompatibility and sensing potentiality. The hypothesis of a SiC based antenna, to be used for glucose monitoring, is that the changes in the medium surrounding the antenna affect the antenna properties such as input impedance and resonance frequency, and these changes can be used to estimate the patient’s plasma glucose level. An all-SiC patch antenna has been designed, simulated and fabricated with a target frequency of operation of 10 GHz. A Cu patch antenna was fabricated on SiC to serve as a reference antenna. The all-SiC antenna was realized by growing a poly-crystalline 3C-SiC film using CVD on a thick oxide layer that had been coated with poly-Si to serve as a growth template. A semi-insulating 4H-SiC substrate was used to minimize RF losses during operation.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2012

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References

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