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fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/JSEN.2020.3041014, IEEE Sensors
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IEEE SENSORS JOURNAL, VOL. XX, NO. XX, MONTH X, XXXX 1

High-Accuracy Complex Permittivity Characterization of

Solid Materials Using Parallel Interdigital
Capacitor-Based Planar Microwave Sensor
Cong Wang*, Luqman Ali, Fan-Yi Meng, Kishor Kumar Adhikari*, Zhong-Liang Zhou, Yu-Chen Wei, Dan-Qing Zou, and He Yu

Abstract— This paper

presents a planar microwave
sensor for the sensitive and
accurate characterization of
complex permittivity of solid
materials. To realize the
proposed sensor, the
combination of a parallel
interdigital capacitor and a dual
wide gap resonator was etched
on the ground plane and
coupled with a transmission line
in the top plane of a printed
circuit board. The main
advantage of the proposed sensor configuration lies in the generation of a high-intensity coupled resonating electric
field suitable for the sensitive measurement of complex permittivity of solid materials. The high-intensity electric field
enhances the coupling and field interaction, and thereby produces a high-accuracy permittivity characterization of a
solid material exposed to the maximum field of the proposed sensor. Our developed microwave permittivity sensor,
which characterized the complex permittivity of several materials by exploiting the measured shifts in resonance
frequencies, exhibited a high sensitivity (up to 37% shift in resonance frequency for 20% change in permittivity) at least
1.5 times higher than previously reported microwave permittivity sensors. In addition, the proposed sensor exhibited
99.9% and 99.7% sensing accuracies for real and imaginary parts of permittivity, respectively, and the measurement
results revealed an excellent (0.06758) and high sensitivity (67.58 MHz per unit change in real permittivity).

Index Terms— Complex permittivity, parallel interdigital capacitor, planar microwave sensor, resolution, resonant
frequency, sensitivity, solid materials.

I. INTRODUCTION structure, microwave sensor and magnetic induction method

R
[5]-[7]. Such methods can be performed by using antenna [8] or
ecent years have witnessed a tremendous interest toward
filter [9], also known as sensor, because it is used to detect the
developing high-performance microwave sensors for
dielectric characteristics of solid materials. An important
complex permittivity characterization of all-phase materials.
HIS characteristic of a sensor are high sensitivity and low loss [10].
Permittivity characterization of solid materials at microwave
The properties of solid material can be demonstrated with a
regime has many applications in the field of aerospace,
high sensitivity by using structure with a strong field location
agriculture, defense industry, biomedical, and millimeter
[11].
microwave devices [1]-[3]. Enhancing sensitivity and
The planar microwave sensor can be designed by using
generating high-accuracy measurement results are the main
different structures such as, split ring resonator (SRR),
challenges in this field. To overcome these challenges, various
complementary split ring resonator (CSRR), coplanar
methods have been investigated [4] for characterizing the
waveguide (CPW), and substrate integrated waveguide (SIW)
permittivity of solid materials including metamaterial-based
[12]-[14]. These structures feature advantages of compactness,
interface easily between each other and with the circuit of
Manuscript received ABC 00, 0000; revised DEF 11, 1111; accepted lumped elements [15]. In a planar microwave sensor field
GHI 33, 3333. Date of publication JLK 0, 0000; date of current version
MNO 44, 4444. “ This work was supported by the General Financial
interaction lead to the changes in resonance frequency of a
Grant from the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation sensor which reveals properties of solid materials [16]. In such
(2017M611367), Heilongjiang Postdoctoral Science Foundation sensor, a zone of high intensity electric field and magnetic field
(LBH-Z17056), and Zhejiang Lab (2019MC0AB03).” is required for a sample position to demonstrate the
C. Wang, L.Ali, F-Y. Meng, K. K. Adhikari, Z-L. Zhou, Y-C. Wei, D-Q.
Zou, and H. Yu are with School of Electronics and Information
characterizations of permittivity and permeability [11].
Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Heilongjiang, However, the dielectric characterization of solid materials can
150001,China (*Corresponding authors’ e-mail: kevinwang@hit.edu.cn, be performed by using a structure with a maximum electric
kishor@hit.edu.cn).

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field, a sensor exhibits a high sensitivity with a strong field
[11].
The field can be enhanced in a planar microwave sensor by
using a meandered micro-strip line (MML) [16] and
inter-digital structure [15]. A high coupling can be achieved by
using a gap between the strip lines, which exhibits a strong
field. Using this technique, the field can be enhanced further by
leaving a gap between the strip lines, as a result all these gaps
are coupled with the strip lines and strong electric field is
achieved. The SRR based planar microwave sensor are widely
used due to its establishment of strong field, easy fabrication,
low cost, and robust design. The SRR type structures have been
used to design the microwave sensor for the characterization of
microfluidic liquid [13], magneto dielectric sample [16],
medical purposes [17], and for humidity sensing [18]. The
interfacing of SRR with MML and inter-digital structure is used
to maximize the field intensity [19]. In [20], the
characterization of aqueous materials can be determined by
using a combination of combiner or splitter with SRR to
establish a strong field. The interfacing of inter-digital structure
with SRR and spiral structure have been used to enhance the
field [8], [21]. The sensitivity of such sensor enhances, because
such alignment maximizes the collaboration of sensor with
samples. In [22], the electric field can be maximized by using a
gap between double SRR. By placing a sample on a maximum
electric field location, causing a field of high interaction and in
the result increased sensitivity. The SRR array, MML, and
interdigital structures are used to maximize the electric field,
because in these structures the gaps between strip lines creates a
high coupling and field interaction [23]. The microwave
sensors for the demonstration of dielectric property of liquid
sample have been designed based on metamaterial resonator
[24]-[27].
It is inferred from the above argument that an accurate
electric characterization of solid material is necessary, to
determine the permittivity of unknown materials. A simple
approach of dual wide gap resonator with parallel inter-digital
capacitor (P-IDC) structure is used to create the high intensity
electric field. The gaps between fingers of P-IDC structure
generate a high electric field, which enhances the coupling and
field interaction, causing the increase in sensitivity. A planar
microwave sensor has been designed based on P-IDC structure
for determining the complex permittivity of dielectric
materials. The P-IDC structure has been fabricated on RF-35
substrate (Ɛr = 3.5) with 0.76 mm thickness. The principle of
operation for detection of dielectric characterization of material
is illustrated in section II. The design and simulation of the
proposed planar microwave sensor are explained in section III.
A system to measure the permittivity of dielectric materials
under test using P-IDC sensor is described in section IV.
Section V explains and justifies the numerical equations used to
evaluate the real and imaginary permittivity of solid materials
via the real time measurement results.
II. OPERATION PRINCIPLE
The parallel combination of interdigital structure with a wide
dual gap of resonator is the fundamental part of the proposed
sensor as shown in Fig. 1b. A circuit model is designed for the
proposed sensor structure using Advanced Design System
software. A good agreement was found between the simulated
transmission coefficient (S21) of the layout structure and circuit
model as shown in Fig. 1c. The two important parameters that
play a basic role in a planar microstrip resonator are resonant
frequency and quality factor. A simple resonator can be
represented through a modelled RLC circuit having a resonant
frequency as given in Eq. (1):
1
fr  (1)
2 LC

(a) (b) (c)

Fig. 1. Equivalent circuit of the proposed design and comparison results with EM simulation and measured results , a) top view of the proposed
design in 3D view connected with vector network analyzer , b) bottom view of the proposed design in 3D view with its circuit model, and the extracted
lumped element parameter are Rc = 294 Ohm, Lc = 1.5 nH, Cc = 6.5 pF, Cp = 2.5 pF, and Cs = 0.7 pF, and c) comparison of circuit model results with
EM simulation and measured results.

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where L is inductor and C indicates the capacitance of the

resonator. The capacitance value governs the resonance
frequency and, is therefore, is used as permittivity sensing part
of the resonator.
The core of the proposed design is based on parallel
combination of inter-digital capacitor (IDC) and is embedded
with a wide dual gap of resonator as shown in Fig. 1b. The
circuit model defines that variation in coupling capacitance and
parallel combination of IDC influence the parameters (shown
in Fig. 1b), thus making it useful as an indicator. The total
coupling capacitance and parallel combination of IDC type of (a) (b)
structure can be evaluated using the following equations [28]:

Kk 
Cc     c 4  (2)
Kk

 K
    s  1     K 2 1   
 
 C  2   K (m)  
CIDC     (3)
 
F
 W   SUB  
 FG 
l ( N E  1) (c) (d)
Fig 2. A schematic view of electric fields lines in inter-digital structure for
detection of dielectric MUTs, a) parallel plate capacitor whose, b)
where l represents the coupled length of the IDC electrode, NE electrodes are opened to afford, c) one sided access to the MUT, and d)
indicates total number of fingers, ƐSUB defines the substrate increasing gap between the electrodes for better assessment with
permittivity, FW represents the finger width, FG defines the sensing MUT to detect it more precisely.
finger gap, and K is the first elliptical integral. In the above Fig.
1b, a back view inside the circuit diagram represents Table I
interdigital capacitor which is associated with a wide dual gap Parameters of the proposed design
of resonator. Cp and Cs represent the shunt capacitors and series Abbreviation Parameters P-IDC-1 P-IDC-2
FL Finger length 4.07 mm 3.57 mm
capacitor of the IDC structure as shown in Fig. 1b, respectively. FW Finger width 0.3 mm 0.5 mm
The proposed design structural analysis is very important on FG Finger gap 0.3 mm 0.5 mm
the basis of wide area between electrodes of interdigital NE Number of fingers 21× 2 12 × 2
structure for dielectric characterization of solid materials. Such h Height of the substrate 0.76 mm 0.76 mm
Ɛsub Dielectric constant of a substrate 3.5 3.5
type of structure provides a periodic electric potential at the
surface of a testing sample and measures the electric field line
capacitance as shown in Fig 2. Interdigital structure exploits the FW and FG. The capacitance of such structure can be varied by
same operation principle like a traditional parallel plate attuning the FW and FG and, in response, such design generates
capacitor as shown in Fig 2a. The main advantage of a high electric field. When the design structure is exposed to
interdigital capacitor electrodes lies in its open area, due to the proximity of a testing dielectric material, the resonance
which distance between adjacent electrodes are wide and the frequency of the design sensor shifts downward. The effective
total electric field area increases in a sample. When a sample is permittivity of testing dielectric sample affects the capacitance
placed on fingers of IDC with a larger gap between them, it and interrupts the electric field of a sample perturbing the field
detects the proximity of sample with a high sensitivity, because distribution intensity of design structure which can be
such structure electric field area is larger which detects physical evaluated from Eq. (4) [2].
changes inside a material through reflection more accurately.
Higher a gap between electrodes, a larger will be the interaction
of electric field area, which means more interaction layer will
f r

 vs ( E1.E0 )dv
(4)
penetrate the surface of MUT as mentioned in [29], [30]. The fr  vc ( 0 | E0 |2 )dv
sensing zone of a proposed design is based on parallel
combination of IDC type structure with a wide gap of resonator In Eq. (4), Δfr represents a shift in a resonance frequency of the
as shown in Fig. 1. The different parameters of IDC type of resonator when a sample of dielectric material is placed on the
structure is shown in Table I. The coupling capacitance and sensing spot of a sensor. fr indicates the resonance frequency of
parallel combination of IDC type of structure is dependent on a resonator with the unloaded sample, Ɛo indicates the

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(a)
(b) (c)
Fig. 3. a) Geometry shape and 3D view of SRR structure, s = 20 mm, t =
22 mm, v = u = 18.43 mm, w = 0.3 mm, b) resonance frequency of SRR,
and c) electric field distribution (1.5×104 V/m).
free space permittivity, ΔƐ defines the change permittivity,
respectively. While Eo is the electric field without loading the
sample of MUT, E1 defines the field with loading MUT on the
zone of a strong field of resonator. It represents that by loading
the proposed design with a dielectric sample on the location of
maximum electric field, it perturbs the field distribution which
is identified through a change in resonance frequency and
quality factor.
The structure with a high electric field intensity enhances the
coupling and field interaction with a testing sample, when it is
pointed out on a sensing area of a design and in response a high
sensitivity. The normalized sensitivity of a design sensor can be
calculated using Eq. (5) below [31]:
1 fUnloaded f Loaded
NS (%)
r fUnloaded
In Eq. (5), the ratio of resonant frequency of unloaded sample
and loaded sample on the sensing zone of design structure to the
change in permittivity of testing dielectric material. In the
proposed work the gap between fingers of P-IDC-1 and
P–IDC-2 is 0.3 mm and 0.5 mm as shown in Table 1. Due to a
large gap between the fingers of P-IDC-2 structure, the
resonance frequency of such structure shifts downward,
because such structure detects proximity of MUT through
electric field lines, which penetrates inside a solid material
more accurately and in response a high sensitivity.
III. PLANAR MICROWAVE SENSOR: DESIGN AND SIMULATION
The proposed P-IDC sensor has been designed on a RF-35
substrate with a dielectric constant of Ɛr=3.5, in a software
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(a)
(b) (c)
Fig. 4. a) Geometry shape and 3D view of P-IDC-1 structure, j = 20 mm,
k = 22 mm, l = m =2.0 mm, n = 11 mm, o = 9.63 mm, p = 4.07 mm, q = r
= 0.3 mm, b) resonance frequency of P-IDC-1, and c) electric field
distribution (1.0×105 V/m).
package of Computer Simulation Technology 2019 (CST). The
width and length of a microstrip line for the designed sensor is
wm=1.68 mm and lm=22 mm in order to get a 50Ω matching
characteristic input impedance as shown in Fig. 1a. The
designed sensor is based on the combination of P-IDC with a
wide dual gap resonator etched on the ground layer to
maximize the electric field of a structure. Because the fingers of
P-IDC structure and gaps between them are coupled as a
spur-line, which enhance the coupling and field interaction as a
result increased sensitivity of a proposed design. Initially, the
SRR has been designed with a gap of 0.3 mm etched on the
ground plane of a micro-strip line. The dimension of SRR is
given in Fig. 3a. Fig. 3b shows the simulated (1.41 GHz) and
measured (1.43 GHz) resonance frequencies of SRR as a
transmission coefficient. The magnitude of electric field on the
ground layer at the resonance frequency of SRR is 1.5×104 V/m
(5)
as shown in Fig. 3c. The intensity of electric field is represented
in the SRR slot of copper. Such condition is required to
characterize the permittivity of dielectric materials.
The electric field is localized very small in the SRR slot. To
increase the electric field of a resonator, the IDC type of
structure can be used with a wide dual gap of resonator. The
P-IDC-1 has been designed by interfacing a parallel
combination of IDC structure with a dual wide gap of resonator
to increase the zone of electric field. The dimension of P-IDC-1
is given in Fig. 4a. Fig. 4b shows the simulated (1.72 GHz) and
measured (1.8 GHz) resonance frequencies of a P-IDC-1
structure. The magnitude of electric field at the resonance
frequency of P-IDC-1 is 1.0×105 V/m on the ground plane. The
zone of the electric field increases due to interfacing of
P-IDC-1 with a wide dual gap of resonator as shown in Fig. 4c.
The fingers of P-IDC-1 and gaps between them enhance the
electric field. The P-IDC-1 finger length is 4.07 mm, while the
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(a)
(b) (c)
Fig. 5. a) Geometry shape and 3D view of P-IDC-2 structure, a = 20 mm,
b = 22 mm, c = d = 2.0 mm, e = 11 mm, f = 9.63 mm, g = 3.57 mm, i = i1
= 0.5 mm, b) resonance frequency of P-IDC-2 structure, and c) electric
field distribution (1.3×105 V/m).
(a) (b)
Fig. 6. Response of a sensor when different sample is placed on the
maximum electric field zone of SRR and P-IDC-1, a) SRR Ɛr and b)
P-IDC-1 Ɛr.
(a) (b)
Fig. 7. Response of a sensor when different sample is placed on the
maximum electric field zone of design structure, a) Ɛr (tanδ = 0) and b)
tanδ (Ɛr = 1).
width of fingers and gap between them are 0.30 mm,
respectively. The zone of electric field has been enhanced
further more than P-IDC-1 by increasing the gap and width of
fingers in the proposed design. The permittivity of dielectric
materials can be characterized more accurately with a zone of
maximum electric field structure. The dimension of a P-IDC-2
structure is given in Fig. 5a. The P-IDC-2 design transmission
coefficient is represented in Fig. 5b as a resonance frequency
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(simulated 2.4 GHz and measured 2.51 GHz). The magnitude
of electric field of P-IDC-2 is 1.3×105 V/m as given in Fig. 5c.
The electric field zone of P-IDC-2 structure is increased more
as compared to SRR and P-IDC-1 due to increase in width of
fingers and their gaps. In such structure, all the fingers and gaps
between them are coupled as a spur-line which generated a
maximum electric field. The simulation result of the proposed
design determined a peak at 2.35 GHz with an amplitude of -30
dB for unloaded sample. The simulation and measurement
results of the designed structures are compared for the
verification of a circuit model as shown in Fig. 1c, which
exhibited a good agreement. The coupling and field interaction
with a sample are enhanced due to high electric field. When a
sample position is nearby the location of maximum electric
field zone, the changes in resonance frequency and quality
factor were observed which reveal the dielectric
characterization of solid materials. The resonance frequency of
a SRR and P-IDC-1 varies linearly by changing a permittivity
of solid materials as given in Fig. 6a-6b. Fig. 7a-7b, represents
the P-IDC designed sensor response for different values of
electric loss tangent and real permittivity when tanδ = 0 and Ɛr =
1, respectively.
IV. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
For the proposed design, five different samples have been
employed in the location of maximum electric field zone to
determine the dielectric characterization of unknown materials.
The variation in a permittivity of five different samples such as
F4BM, F4BTM, F4BTM1, TP, and TP1 are as given in Table II.
The thickness of each sample is set constant, because the
interaction of field with a sample saturates and the change in a
sensor response is not considerable beyond a certain thickness.
In the proposed design, the thickness of each sample is set 1.5
mm to reduce effect of thickness. The curve fitting technique
has been used to explain the real and imaginary part of
permittivity as a function of normalized resonance frequency.
A. Estimation of Real Part of Permittivity
The real and imaginary permittivity of solid materials can be
demonstrated from Eq. (6) as given below:
r r j r (6)
A numerical modeling has been used to find a relation between
the permittivity of sample and resonance frequency of designed
sensor, because the resonance frequency fr reveals the
permittivity of solid materials. Five different samples have
been cut down precisely to locate it on a maximum electric field
spot of a designed sensor. The thickness of each sample has
been considered 1.5 mm. In the proposed design, a P-IDC
structure is interfaced with a wide dual gap of resonator to
maximize the electric field zone because the gaps between
fingers enhance coupling and field interaction as a result high
sensitivity. By placing a sample on the maximum electric field
location, a shift in resonance frequency has been observed with
a high sensitivity. This shift in resonance frequency is due to
varying permittivity of a sample and it is represented using Δfr.
A large shift in the resonance frequency has been noticed by
increasing the permittivity of the sample. A polynomial curve
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(a)
(c)
Fig. 8. Relative permittivity (real part) and loss tangent of the MUT as
function of a shifting resonance frequency, a) P-IDC-1, b) P-IDC-2, and
c) the proposed design resonance frequency shifting and loss tangent
versus permittivity of a different sample when it is placed on a sensing
zone of designed sensor.
fit is used to show a graph of the measured data points and
derived equation for the real permittivity. Numerical Eq. (7) for
P-IDC design can be expressed from the graphical
representation of real permittivity as shown in Fig. 8,
respectively.
r ( P IDC 1) 1.4914 f r 2 21.83455 f r (7a)
1.35037
6.29292 f r 2 22.23987 f r
r ( P IDC 2)
4.72039
B. Estimation of Imaginary Part of Permittivity
The quality factor of a designed P-IDC sensor is influenced
by real permittivity and electric loss tangent. The quality factor
for a loaded/unloaded design can be found using Eq. (8), such
type of analysis has been used for various values of real
permittivity of solid materials. The quality factor can be
evaluated from Eq. (8), in which fr is resonance frequency and
Δfr (fupper-flower) define the +3dB bandwidth.
fr
Q
f r ( fupper  flower )
To find the intercept point between the inverse of Q-factor and
loss tangent, a polynomial curve fit is used with the nth order of
1. A different set of equation is to be computed with changing
the real permittivity for P-IDC design as shown in Eq. (9):
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QP1 IDC 1  S (tan  )  8.21 103 (9a)
QP1 IDC  2  S (tan  )  1.808 102 (9b)
Eq. (10) defines that slope varies with respect to real
permittivity. The polynomial curve fitting is used to find the
relation between slope and real permittivity.
(b)
SPIDC 1  1.321102 ( r ( P IDC 1) )  0.14494 (10a)
SP - IDC -2  - 0.1249 ( r ( P - IDC -2) )  0.76257 (10b)
The loss tangent can be estimated for P-IDC design by using
slope values with respect to varying permittivity of a sample as
shown in Eq. (11):
| Q1  8.21103 |
tan  P IDC 1  (11a)
1.321102 ( r ( P IDC 1) )  0.14494
| Q1  1.808 102 |
tan  P IDC 2  (11b)
0.1249( r ( P IDC 2) )  0.76257
The imaginary part of permittivity for the proposed design can
be expressed from Eq. (12):
j r
tan   (12)
 r
The resonance frequency and quality factor for the P-IDC-1 can
be estimated by loading a sample position on the maximum
electric field zone of a structure. The real permittivity of
dielectric material for different samples can be determined
from a resonance frequency using the Eq. (7a). The sensing
(7b)
accuracy of real part for P-IDC-1 is 99.4%. The imaginary part
(electric loss tangent) of permittivity can be found from quality
factor using the Eq. (11a). The sensing accuracy of imaginary
part for P-IDC-1 is 87.6%.
The resonance frequency and quality factor for the P-IDC-2
can be estimated by loading a sample on the maximum electric
field zone of a structure. The real permittivity of the tested
dielectric materials were determined from the measured
resonance frequencies using Eq. (7b) and are plotted in Fig. 8b.
The sensing accuracy of real part of P-IDC-2 is 99.9%. The
electric loss tangent, which was using Eq. (11b), are shown in
Fig. 8c. The sensing accuracy of imaginary part of P-IDC-2 is
99.7%. To minimize the error in dielectric measurement due to
(8) potential air existing between the solid dielectric material and
the sensitive region of our developed resonator, the tested
sample and sensor were hold tightly by using clampers at the
edges as illustrated in Fig. 9c. The efficiency of the clamping
method to generate accuracy was assessed by calculating the
relative standard deviation (RSD) for triplicate analysis of the
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Journal
7

Fig. 9. The fabricated sensor results for measuring of dielectric material, a) top view of designed sensor, b) bottom view of P-IDC-1, c) bottom view of
P-IDC-2, and d) characterization of permittivity of dielectric material measuring setup.

Table II
Real permittivity characterization of solid materials
Frequency shifting (P-IDC-1) ∆fr Frequency shifting (P-IDC-2) ∆fr
Material ƐReal (Actual value) ƐP-IDC-1 (Fitted value) ƐP-IDC-2 (Fitted value)
(GHz) ± RSD (%) (GHz) ± RSD (%)
F4BM 0.16 ± 0.59 % 0.35 ± 0 % 2.2 2.104 2.292
F4BTM 0.25 ± 0.37 % 0.43 ± 0 % 4.0 4.015 4.076
F4BTM1 0.38 ± 0 % 0.65 ± 0 % 6.15 6.731 7.076
TP 0.48 ± 0 % 0.77 ± 0 % 9.6 8.786 9.073
TP1 0.58 ± 0.8 % 0.95 ± 0.49 % 10.5 10.81 10.728

Table III
Imaginary permittivity characterization of solid materials
Imaginary permittivity
Material tanδ actual tanδ fitted (P-IDC-1) (P-IDC-1) tanδ fitted (P-IDC-2) Imaginary permittivity (P-IDC-2)
F4BM 0.0001 0.000112 0.000235 0.000144 0.000330
F4BTM 0.00025 0.000272 0.001092 0.000250 0.001019
F4BTM1 0.00025 0.000247 0.001662 0.000247 0.001747
TP 0.0001 0.000169 0.001484 0.000131 0.001188
TP1 0.0001 0.000130 0.001405 0.000102 0.001094

individual sample. An RSD of 0.49% for a TP1 sample and
null RSD for other tested samples (F4BM, F4BTM,
F4BTM1, and TP) as shown in Table II indicated the
excellent reproducibility of our developed permittivity
sensor and negligible error due to air gap. The fitted real
permittivity of five tested samples using P-IDC sensor is
given in Table II and the imaginary permittivity is
summarized in Table III.
V. EXPERIMENTAL VALIDATION
The proposed sensor has been fabricated on RF-35
substrate with a dielectric constant of Ɛr = 3.5 and images of
the fabricated sensors are shown in Fig. 9. The SMA
connectors are used to excite microstrip line as shown in Fig.
9a. The designed sensor is based on a P-IDC structure,
which is interfaced with a wide dual gap of resonator to
increase the intensity of electric field location in a proposed
structure as shown in Fig. 9d. The high electric field
structure is used to enhance coupling and field interaction,
causing an increase in sensitivity.
When a sample was positioned nearby the designed sensor
on a location of maximum electric field zone, changes in
resonance frequency and quality factor were observed. To
evaluate the permittivity sensing performance of the
proposed sensor, five different samples such as F4BM = Ɛr =
2.2, F4BTM = Ɛr = 4.0, F4BTM1 = Ɛr = 6.15, TP = Ɛr = 9.6 and
TP1 = Ɛr = 10.5 were used. The thickness of each sample was
1.5 mm, and each sample was cut down properly to locate its
position clearly on maximum electric field zone. A Keysight
FieldFox Microwave Analyzer (N9916A) was calibrated
using the short, open, load, through (SOLT) technique to
ensure the accuracy and measure the sensor’s S-parameters
in a constant frequency range (1-3 GHz). All measurements

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Table IV
Comparison table between the proposed work and the state of art
References FS (MHz) FDR (GHz) NS (%) Sensing element Sensing property and accuracy (%)
[1] 50 0.02 0.69 SRR Real (N/A) and Imaginary (N/A) Permittivity
[3] 240 0.05 2.7 SRR Real (N/A) and Imaginary (N/A) Permittivity
[6] 120 N/A N/A EBG Real (99.8) and Imaginary (96.6) Permittivity
[11] 320 0.1 2.2 SRR Real (N/A) Permittivity
[17] 250 N/A N/A CSRR Real (94.9) Permittivity
[31] 450 0.17 3.25 MLM Real (N/A) Permittivity
[32] 727 N/A 3.3 LC resonator Real (N/A) and Imaginary (N/A) Permittivity
[33] 557 N/A 1.2 SIR Real (N/A) and Imaginary (N/A) Permittivity
[34] 732 N/A 3.59 LC resonator Real (N/A) and Imaginary (N/A) Permittivity
[35] 300 N/A 1.7 CSRR Real (N/A) and Imaginary (N/A) Permittivity
[36] 900 N/A 2.1 SIR Real (N/A) and Imaginary (N/A) Permittivity
[37] 450 N/A 0.59 MTM Real (N/A) and Imaginary (N/A) Permittivity
[38] 243 N/A 0.169 DSRR Real (N/A) and Imaginary (N/A) Permittivity
[39] 1681 N/A 1.5 SRR Real (N/A) and Imaginary (N/A) Permittivity
This work 950 0.29 3.98 P-IDC Real (99.9) and Imaginary (99.7) Permittivity
* FS = frequency shifting, FDR = frequency detection resolution, and NS = normalized sensitivity.

were conducted at room temperature (25°C ± 0.01%) and The proposed design resonance frequency tuned at 2.51 GHz
humidity (62% ± 0.02%) as shown in Fig. 9. The for unloaded sample. By loading TP 1 (high permittivity
measurement results of loaded/unloaded samples condition sample) above sensing area of the proposed design, the
of P-IDC-1 and P-IDC-2 are represented through resonance frequency takes a shift to 1.56 GHz as expressed
transmission coefficient and a resonance frequency as in Fig. 11. The change in resonance frequency is due to
illustrate in Fig. 10 and Fig. 11. distracting field distribution of proposed design when
sample is perturbed above sensing zone. Such changes in a
resonance frequency reveal the dielectric characteristics of
solid material. The resonance frequency shift has been
evaluated using the following equation:

Δfr = fr(UNLOADED) -f r(LOADED) (13)

Frequency detection resolution (FDR), which is a measure of

sensitivity for each individual sample and is expressed as the
change in resonance frequency with respect to variation in
dielectric constant, was calculated for all tested dielectric
samples using Eq. (14) and are summarized in Table IV.

f1 f2 (14)
FDR
r
Fig. 10. |S21| measured results of P-IDC-1 when different samples
are placed on the sensing area.
where the terms f1 and f2 represent the upper and lower
detection frequency and Δεr represents the change in
permittivity due to the tested sample. The proposed sensor
exhibits an FDR of 0.29 GHz for variation in dielectric
constant of testing material by 2.2, which is significantly
higher as compared to FDR of previous work (FDR = 0.17
GHz) [31]. Fig. 12(c) shows FDR of the proposed sensor
realized by P-IDC-1.The proposed sensor based on P-IDC-2
exhibits a 3.98% change in resonance frequency for a high
permittivity sample (εr = 10.5), significantly higher than the
resonance frequency change obtained using P-IDC-1-based
sensor (3.39%). The normalize sensitivities of sensors based
on P-IDC-1 and P-IDC-2 for all tested samples are shown in
Fig. 12(d). As is evident from comparison Table IV for a
reference sample (εr = 10.5), our developed sensor produces
a significantly higher response (3.98%) compared to other
Fig. 11. |S21| measured results of P-IDC-2 when different samples works (3.25% in [31] and 3.59% in [34]), at least 1.5 times
are placed on the sensing area. higher than several recently reported similar works.

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Table V
Comparison between P-IDC-1 and P-IDC-2 on basis of error
S. N. Material Ɛr P-IDC-1 error P-IDC-2 error
1. F4BM 2.2 0.061 0.029
2. F4BTM 4.0 0.111 0.074
3. F4BTM1 6.15 0.166 0.079
4. TP 9.6 0.170 0.090
5. TP1 10.5 0.180 0.152

(a) (b) f c  0.06758 x  2.31861 (15)

where xε denotes the permittivity of a sample. Therefore fc of

the developed sensor indicated a high sensitivity (67.58
MHz per unit change in real permittivity) towards solid
dielectric materials. To evaluate the reproducibility and
resolution of the proposed sensors (P-IDC-1 and P-IDC-2),
triplicate measurement and analysis of each individual
dielectric sample were conducted. A maximum RSD of
(c) (d)
Fig. 12. |S21| measured results a) resonance frequency (GHz), b)
0.49% for TP1 sample (εr = 10.5), which is plotted in Fig. 13
frequency shifting (GHz), c) frequency detection resolution (GHz), (a) and (b) and summarized in Table II, indicates that our
and d) normalized sensitivity (%). developed sensor produces a highly reproducible
permittivity characterization results for various solid
materials. Such excellent reproducibility was expected also
due to the use of N9916A microwave analyzer, which can
accurately measure the shift in resonance frequency down to
5 KHz. Resolution, which is an indicative of the sensor’s
capacity to precisely measure the smallest change in
permittivity of a solid material and was calculated using the
ratio of maximum standard deviation (0.0047) regarding
triplicate measurement and sensitivity (0.06758) [40], is
0.069547 for P-IDC-2-based sensor. The error can be
defined as the ratio of difference between the sample
resonant frequency of measurement and simulation to
unloaded resonant frequency as shown in Eq. (16):
(a)

Fm  Fs
error  (%) (16)
Fu

A low error is indicated when the difference between the

(b)
Fig. 13. Triplicate measurement and analysis of the tested solid
dielectric materials and error bars indicating the relative standard
deviations (RSDs) for the proposed sensors based on a) P-IDC-1
and b) P-IDC-2.
A regression analysis between the tested samples of varying
permittivity and the measured resonant frequencies (fcs),
which was done to calibrate the sensor, revealed a linear
correlation with a good correlation coefficient (r2 = 0.95309)
expressed using the following regression equation:
simulated and measured results has been observed less. The
measurement shows that the designed sensor has been used
for the detection of complex permittivity of solid materials.
The percentage error of the proposed sensor for five different
samples are given in Table V. The proposed designed can
also use in a various application, such as detection of mica
thickness. Table IV compares the performance
characteristics of our developed sensors with several
recently reported works, shows that the developed sensor
exhibits a significantly higher resolution and sensitivity.
VI. CONCLUSION
In this work, we have developed a P-IDC-based
cost-effective microwave sensor for measuring the complex
permittivity of solid materials with high-accuracy and
enhanced sensitivity. The sensitivity enhancement of the
proposed sensor, which sensed the complex permittivity by

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exploiting the material-dependent shift in resonance
frequency, was achieved using a wide dual gap of resonator
with P-IDC structure. The potential difference of the
connection between wide dual gaps of resonator with P-IDC
structure by via through ground creates a high-intensity
sensing electric field, which in turn, enables an effective
interaction between the sensing field and tested material.
The experimental results revealed an excellent resolution
(0.06758), a large response (3.98% resonance frequency
shift for εr = 10.5) and enhanced sensitivity (67.58 MHz per
unit change in real permittivity). In addition, the sensing
accuracies for real and imaginary permittivity were 99.9%
and 99.7%, respectively. Thus, our developed sensor
indicated a substantially higher sensitivity and better
resolution compared to several reported microwave
permittivity sensors. Moreover, an excellent curve fitting
between the measured and numerically modelled complex
permittivity of several solid materials indicated the good
accuracy of the proposed sensor.
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