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Solvent-based Optimization of CSRR and IDC RF Bio-sensors

Article in IEEE Sensors Journal · March 2022

DOI: 10.1109/JSEN.2022.3148349

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Solvent-based Optimization of CSRR and IDC

RF Bio-sensors
Kunal Wadhwani, Student Member, IEEE, Sheena Hussaini, Annesha Mazumder, Student Member,
IEEE, and Azeemuddin Syed, Senior Member, IEEE

Abstract— Complementary Split Ring Resonators (CSRR) and Inter-

Digitated Capacitors (IDC) based RF sensors have been ubiqui-
tously optimized assuming empty cavities. However, in bio-sensing
applications, most of the samples are dissolved in respective sol-
vents. As a result, designing sensors based on specific solvent-
filled cavities is the optimal approach for future RF bio-sensors.
This paper presents the application of Binary Particle Swarm Op-
timization (BPSO) technique for maximizing the sensitivity of CSRR
and IDC sensors. BPSO optimizes the designs by cell patterning the
sensing region in the presence of phosphate buffer as a solvent.
An enhancement of 47.38× for the CSRR and 2.03× for the IDC
in the detection of L-Lysine at frequencies 2.18 GHz and 0.72 GHz
respectively has been achieved, when compared to sensitivities of their traditional counterparts. Promising results have
also been observed in the detection of sucrose and glucose, making it a suitable contender for optimization of next-
generation RF bio-sensors.
Index Terms— CSRR, glucose, IDC, L-Lysine, microwave sensing, cell patterned RF sensor, solvent-based optimization,
sucrose

I. I NTRODUCTION On the other hand, glucose and sucrose are examples of

The analysis of biomolecules forms an integral part of a
diverse range of biochemical sensing applications. Most of
these biomolecules play pivotal roles in life processes. They
are needed in the precise amount to facilitate the proper func-
tioning of the human body. Amino acids and saccharides are
two such classes of vital biomolecules. This list of important
amino acids and saccharides includes L-Lysine, glucose and
sucrose.
L-Lysine belongs to the class of essential amino acids. It
is primarily involved in cell development and proliferation. It
also participates in angiogenesis, wound healing, inflammatory
responses and the formation of collagen [1]. Furthermore, L-
Lysine has antibacterial and antiviral properties, which makes
it useful in the pharmaceutical industry [2].
Deficiency of L-Lysine is quite common in those with
plant-based diets [3] and supplements are usually taken to
improve the L-Lysine levels. Also, industry-based monitoring
and analysis methods are largely absent. Thus, there is a
need to develop novel methods in the pharmaceutical, food-
processing and agricultural industries that can effectively help
in tackling the problem of L-Lysine deficiency [4].
Kunal Wadhwani, Annesha Mazumder and Azeemuddin Syed are
with the Center for VLSI and Embedded System Technologies
(CVEST), International Institute of Information Technology (IIIT), Hy-
derabad, Telangana, India (e-mail: kunal.wadhwani@research.iiit.ac.in,
syed@iiit.ac.in). Sheena Hussaini is with the MN Smart Radios,
AD, Nokia of America Corporation, Dallas, TX, USA (e-mail:
sheena.hussaini@nokia.com).
natural sweeteners that are widely used across the food-
processing industry [5]. While glucose is a monosaccharide,
sucrose is a polysaccharide that breaks down into glucose and
fructose. For human beings, glucose, in particular, is vital, as it
helps in the regulation of the metabolism of the body. A change
in the blood glucose levels can lead to hyperglycemia and
diabetes, which could further lead to cardiovascular and kidney
disorders. The past two decades have observed an exponential
growth in the number of diabetes patients, making it necessary
to investigate efficient techniques for glucose monitoring.
A myriad of techniques are available for analyzing these
biomolecules [6]–[12]. However, these methods are associ-
ated with several inherent disadvantages. For instance, optical
sensing involves elaborate and time-taking sample preparation
procedures, that often require the presence of labels [13]–
[15]. The need for labels is especially challenging for bio-
samples which are prone to degradation. Furthermore, they
require sophisticated instrumentation and skilled technicians
for performing the testing [16], [17]. Similarly, the other con-
ventional techniques like chromatography and enzyme-based
sensing, are associated with labour-intensive and cumbersome
procedures, that are mostly not portable and need extensive
instrumentation support. Thus, there is a need for a fast and
facile technique that is capable of performing rapid testing.
Radio frequency (RF) sensing can serve as a suitable alter-
native in this case, as it is fast, robust, reusable, non-destructive
and easy to use with minimal pre-processing. RF planar sen-
sors, such as split-ring resonators (SRR) [18], complementary

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split ring resonators (CSRR) [19], [20] and inter-digitated
capacitors [21], [22] are being thoroughly researched for the
last few decades. These sensors have become immensely
popular due to their low cost of fabrication, compact design
and excellent compatibility with other technologies [23]. They
are being employed for a diverse range of applications ranging
from dielectric spectroscopy of bioliquids to pathogen identi-
fication to tumor detection [24].
This paper focuses on enhancing the sensitivity of RF
sensors and uses computational optimization techniques to
improve the sensitivity of complementary split ring resonator
(CSRR) and inter-digitated capacitor (IDC) based RF sensors.
Usually, the RF designs are broken into small fragments or
pixels called cells while keeping the overall sensing area intact
[25]–[27]. There can be only two possibilities for a cell i.e. it
can either be metalized (state 1) or it can be etched (state 0).
However, enhancing the sensitivity of the design by exploring
every possible cell pattern can be tedious and optimization
algorithms can help make the process more efficient. Parti-
cle Swarm Optimization (PSO), developed by Kennedy and
Eberhart [28], is one such algorithm prevalent in the fields
of electronics, medicine, biology, and communication due to
its reliability, easy implementation, less dependency on initial
conditions and good convergence accuracy [29]. This study
uses the binary version of PSO called binary particle swarm
optimization (BPSO) [30], [31] to determine the best possible
cell pattern offering maximum sensitivity of the sensor for a
particular set of dimensions.
This work performs the enhancement of sensitivity by
optimizing a solvent-filled sensor instead of an air-filled one.
The motivation was to build a sensor that can track minuscule
changes occurring in the dielectric constant. We know that
the variation in dielectric constant between specific solvents
and their solutions is lesser than that of air and solutions.
Thus, RF sensors based on solvent-filled cavities can more
efficiently track small changes taking place in the dielectric
constant. This methodology of design is termed as solvent-
based optimization of the RF sensor. It helps in improving the
sensitivity dramatically. Furthermore, while employing opti-
mization, a smaller variation from the mean position enables
faster convergence and delivers more efficient designs. It is
thus pertinent to make solvent-specific sensors, wherein the
sensitivity can be carefully tuned and better RF-based sensors
can be designed.
To demonstrate our methodology, we have chosen Phos-
phate Buffer (PB) as our solvent and studied three important
samples under test (SUT), L-Lysine (lys), glucose (glu) and
sucrose (suc). We have selected a buffer as our solvent
instead of water, as most bio-samples are dispersed in them to
avoid chemical degradation. All three SUTs have a dielectric
constant close to that of PB. This would result in efficient
designs and significant improvement of sensitivity, along with
helping in illustrating the feasibility of designing solvent-based
RF sensors using the BPSO.
Although in this work, the capabilities of the algorithm
has been demonstrated using three SUTs, the procedure can
be extended to the detection of a wide variety of analytes.
For these cases, the optimization of the RF design should be
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done in presence of the specific solvent used for sensing such
analytes. Thus, this methodology could be extensively used
for performing fast, facile and efficient analysis of important
analytes such as biomolecules [32]–[34], water pollutants [35]
and poisonous compounds [36].
This paper is organized as follows. Section II consists of
the description of the initial CSRR and IDC - designs before
optimization, cost function of the design, BPSO methodology,
final CSRR and IDC - designs after optimization, and the
experimental setup. Section III consists of the simulation
and experimental results, along with the discussion on the
sensitivity of the designs and the enhancement factors. Section
IV concludes the work done.
II. M ETHODS
A. Initial designs
The primary goal in deciding the initial design parameters
is to obtain a sensor in the ISM band that offers highest
efficiency. Several designs were studied and the final one
was selected based on several factors such as Q-factor, the
resonance amplitude and resonance frequency shift in presence
of PB.
1) Initial CSRR: A CSRR comprises a microstrip line cou-
pled with a defected ground structure built by etching a split
ring resonator in the ground plane. The dominant coupling is
due to the electric field, which is perpendicular to the plane
of the CSRR [37]. CSRR based sensor of dimensions 50×50
mm2 is chosen as the initial design for feeding to the BPSO
called the initial CSRR. The sensor is fabricated on a 1.6
mm FR-4 substrate with 0.035 mm thick copper on both
sides. While the simulated design resonates at 2.117 GHz,
the fabricated design resonates at 2.542 GHz. Considering the
limitations in the fabrication process, ambient effects around
the experimental setup, and the uncertainty in the substrate’s
dielectric constant, the sensor’s simulated and experimental
resonant frequencies do not match exactly. Fig. 1 shows the
CSRR based RF sensor used for simulation and it shows how
the center ground region is divided to give the cell pattern of
15×15 cells of cell size 1 mm. The cell size is decided as
1 mm for CSRR as it is the minimum feature size offered
for the PCB fabrication. Mask of epoxy resin material with a
dielectric constant of 4 and material density of 1500 Kg/m3
is deposited above the copper for the simulation. A sample
chamber with a dielectric constant of 2.9 with tanδ of 0.014 is
used for simulation [38], [39]. The mask of dimensions 40×50
Fig. 1: Simulated CSRR based sensor and cell pattern.
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mm2 is deposited over the ground plane side of the fabricated is given by r
sensor to prevent the oxidation or corrosion of copper due to Ceq + C1
reaction with the SUTs. Its thickness is the same as that of the Q = Req (2)
L
copper. The mask is etched off 5 mm on each side from the
The equivalent capacitance and equivalent resistance of the
vertical edge of the sensor for soldering SMA connectors to the
CSRR in presence of SUT is given by (3) and (4) respectively.
open copper. A sample chamber of grey colored PLA material
with dimensions 19×19 mm2 with a cavity of 15×15 mm2 is Ceq = C + CSU T (3)
3D printed and stuck over the sensor using a cyanoacrylate-
based bio-compatible (CBBC) adhesive. It forms a boundary R × RSU T
surrounding the sensing area to confine the sample volume Req = (4)
R + RSU T
strictly in the high E-field area. The thickness of the sample
above the simulated sensor is 2.22 mm to keep the sample The overall permittivity of the SUT is given by
volume as 500 µl. εSU T = ε′SU T + jε′′SU T (5)
The CSRR behaves like a band-stop filter and so, we focus
on the change in S21 with respect to the change in the resonant where ε′SU T is real part and ε′SU T is imaginary part of the
frequency of the sensor. This variation in S21 is, in turn, used permittivity. CSU T and RSU T correspond to the shift in the
for qualitative analysis of the SUTs. resonant frequency of the sensor and change in magnitude of
S21 in presence of SUT respectively.
CSU T ∝ ε′SU T (6)
and
RSU T ∝ ε′′SU T (7)
From Fig. 3, we see that the frequency response from
the simulation and the equivalent circuit match with the
permissible range of error. This indicates that the lumped
circuit model given in Fig. 2 is capable of taking into account
all effects and translating them correctly for the circuit.
Fig. 2: Equivalent circuit diagram for initial CSRR.

The equivalent circuit has been provided in Fig. 2. While

L1 and L2 are the inductances of the microstrip line, R1 and
R2 correspond to the resistive losses due to the microstrip line.
C1 represents the coupling capacitance of the microstrip line
and CSRR [40]. All of these components are unaffected by the
presence of the sample and remain unchanged throughout. On
the other hand, R, L, and C correspond to the lumped com-
ponents of the CSRR on the ground plane of the sensor. These
parameters vary with changes in the sample introduced in the
PLA cavity. The losses due to substrate, conductor, masking
and sample chamber are included in R in (4). The values of
these parameters are extracted to match the simulation results
with maximum accuracy and displayed in Table II. Fig. 3: Simulation vs equivalent circuit model for initial
From (6), we can see that capacitance (CSU T ) contributed CSRR.
by the SUT is affected by the change in the dielectric constant
(or real part of permittivity) and, in turn, contributes to the
shift in resonant frequency in (1). From (7), it is observed that 2) Initial IDC: An IDC based RF sensor consists of N
resistance (RSU T ) contributed by SUT is directly proportional parallel fingers, arranged periodically, with microstrip lines
to the imaginary part of permittivity of SUT, which results being used for feeding. The sensing side of IDC consists of
in a change in the magnitude of S21 . Together, these two inductive inter-digitated fingers with capacitive gaps between
parameters help bring about the change observed in the them. The sensor is fabricated on a 1.6 mm FR-4 substrate with
resonance characteristics for the different samples. dimensions 126×48 mm2 . While the simulated design res-
The resonant frequency of the sensor in the presence of the onates at 2.035 GHz, the fabricated design resonates at 1.878
SUT is given by GHz. An epoxy-resin based mask of dimensions 116×48 mm2
1 is deposited on the IDC side. A sample chamber of grey PLA
f= p (1) material with dimensions 36×26 mm2 with a cavity of 32×22
2π L(Ceq + C1 ) mm2 is 3D printed. Similar to the CSRR, the chamber is
The quality factor of the sensor in the presence of the SUT placed enclosing the sensing area using a CBBC adhesive.

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The thickness of the sample above the simulated sensor is
1.704 mm to keep the sample volume as 1200 µl. The width
of the microstrip line is 3.13 mm to get input characteristic
impedance as 50 ohms for impedance matching.
capacitances Cc and CSU T . The equivalent capacitance (Ceq )
of the initial IDC is the combined capacitance offered by the
combination of capacitances C and Cm . The values of these
parameters are extracted in Table II. The frequency response
of the simulated design and the circuit model has also been
provided in Fig. 6 and they match with an acceptable variation.

Fig. 4: Simulated IDC based sensor and cell pattern.

Fig. 4 shows the IDC based RF sensor used for simulation,

and it shows how the inter-digitated region is divided to give Fig. 6: Simulation vs equivalent circuit model for initial IDC.
the cell pattern of 16×11 cells of cell size 2 mm. The cell
size for IDC is selected as 2 mm to keep the total number of
pixels in IDC near to that of CSRR. The combination of k cells The resonant frequency of the IDC is given by:
creates a cell pattern, resulting in a specific design structure. It
1
can be noted that the total number of unknown parameters (k) f= p (8)
in the optimization problem for CSRR is 120, whereas k for 2π Lm Ceq
IDC is 96. We tried to match the k for CSRR and IDC which
where Lm is inductance of microstrip line [42] coupled to the
helped us match the computational time of the optimization
IDC fingers which is given by
procedure for both the designs. The cell pattern of IDC is kept
in this manner to keep the anti-symmetric structure across the l w+t
horizontal axis similar to the one in the conventional IDC Lm = 2 × 10−4 l × (ln( ) + 1.193 + 0.2235( )) (9)
w+t l
structure.
IDC behaves like a band-pass filter and so, we focus on where l is the length, w is the width and t is the thickness of
the S11 parameter for observing the change in the resonant the resonator The expression of capacitance of IDC (Cc ) [43]
frequency of the sensor. Similar to the case of the CSRR, this is given by
change helps identifying our samples of interest. Cc = nl(C1 + C2 + C3 ) (10)
The equivalent circuit diagram for the initial IDC is given
in Fig. 5. R and Lm represent the resistance and inductance where l is the length, n is the number of pair of IDC fingers,
C1 is the line capacitance of stripline with air layer above, C2
is capacitance of stripline with the FR-4 substrate and C3 is
the capacitance of the mask layer.

K(k1′ )
C1 = 4ε0 (11)
K(k1 )
′
where K(k )
K(k) is the ratio of complete elliptical integral of the
first kind and ε0 is the free space permittivity
Fig. 5: Equivalent circuit diagram for initial IDC.
K(k2′ )
C2 = 2ε0 (εsubs − 1) (12)
K(k2 )
offered by the microstrip line of the IDC respectively. Cm
represents the capacitance offered by the microstrip line [41]. where εsubs is the permittivity of the substrate
Cc is the coupling capacitance of the IDC. In presence of
SUT, the equivalent resistance (Req ) of the initial IDC is the K(k3′ )
combined resistance offered by the combination of resistances C3 = 2ε0 (εmask − 1) (13)
K(k3 )
Rc and RSU T . The capacitance (C) of the initial IDC is
the combined capacitance offered by the combination of where εmask is the permittivity of the mask layer

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B. Cost Function of the design the particle and a2 is social acceleration coefficient contribut-
The more the shift in the sensor’s resonant frequency, the ing in accelerating the movement of particle towards the best
more is the sensor’s sensitivity. It is observed that a shift in the experienced solution by the entire swarm. Here, V , X, P , and
resonant frequency for RF design is a function of the resonant G are k-dimensional vectors. The values of w, a1 and a2 are
frequency. To make the shift independent of the frequency, 1, 2 and 2 respectively as stated in [47] for better convergence.
we normalize the shift in resonant frequency by the resonant BPSO is initialized with the position vector X of the
frequency of the empty sensor. Since we are designing a initial design and velocity vector V is varied randomly from
solvent-specific sensor, we normalize the shift with respect 0 to L, where L denotes the particle’s dynamic range in
to the resonant frequency of the sensor in the presence of every dimension to restrict the particles’ motion outside the
a solvent. The normalized frequency (NF) of the sensor is problem’s search space. The dynamic range of particles is from
defined as 0 to 15 for CSRR and 0 to 32 for IDC, as the major dimension
∆f of the CSRR cell patterned area is 15 mm and the major
NF = (14) dimension for IDC is 32 mm. The initial design is assumed to
fsolvent
be the personal best and global best solution initially till we get
The algorithm is defined as a minima problem. Therefore we a new design that is more sensitive than it through iterations.
define a mathematical parameter called cost function (CF) In conventional BPSO, the sigmoid function (S(Vnt+1 )) is
which is the reciprocal of NF. More the NF, less is the CF. equipped to convert the continuous particle velocity of PSO
The expression of the CF is defined as into the binary form of particle position given below
1 fsolvent 1
CF = = (15) S(Vnt+1 ) = (17)
NF fsolution − fsolvent 1 + exp(−Vnt+1 )
where fsolvent denotes the resonant frequency of the solvent or In conventional BPSO, the position of the nth particle at the
reference liquid used for testing and fsolution is the resonant t + 2 iteration is given by
frequency of the solution after adding solute to the solvent. We (
have chosen L-Lysine as the primary SUT for the simulation. t+2 1, S(Vnt+1 ) > r
The dielectric constant of 10 mg/ml L-Lysine solution is Xn = (18)
0, S(Vnt+1 ) ≤ r
estimated to be 76.73 using [44]. PB is a water based solvent
having a dielectric constant of ∼79. The sensors have been where r is a random number uniformly distributed between 0
designed and optimized in frequency range of 0-5 GHz as the and 1.
dielectric constant of water is stable for this specific range A modified transfer function described in [47] which offers
[45]. Since solvent has a higher dielectric constant than the an improvement over conventional BPSO in terms of compu-
solution, therefore, fsolvent is less than the fsolution . tational time and accuracy is used in this work which is given
below
2
(
C. BPSO t+1 − 1, Vnt+1 > 0
T F (Vn ) = 1+exp(−a.Vn2 )
t+1
(19)
Every cell can be either 0 or 1, hence the total number 1 − 1+exp(−a.V t+1 ) , Vnt+1 ≤ 0
n
of combinations of cell pattern is 2k . Theoretically, we need
where a is defined as
to check the whole pool of cell patterns and find the best
one, which gives the maximum possible sensitivity, but that a = e − ((e − d)/it) (20)
is not feasible manually. It can be concluded that the more
the number of bits, the more complex is the optimization where T F (Vnt+1 ) is the transfer function of velocity of nth
problem. As seen in Fig. 1 and Fig. 4, CSRR and IDC have cell particle at t + 1 iteration, a is an iterative parameter called
patterns symmetrical across the vertical and horizontal axis, transfer factor, it is the number of iteration, e and d are the
respectively, to reduce the complexity of the problem. Hence, maximum and minimum transfer factors, respectively. The
k is taken as 120 and 96 for CSRR and IDC, respectively. values of e and d are 2 and 1 respectively for early convergence
In order to explore the k-dimensional search space widely, a of the algorithm. The position of the nth particle at the t + 2
group of particles is equipped that are called the population iteration is given by
or swarm size. The swarm size is set to 30, which is optimum 
1,
 T F (Vnt+1 ) > r & Xnt+1 = 0
for PSO based heuristic, as reported in [46]. The equation of t+2
the PSO is given by Xn = 0, T F (Vnt+1 ) > r & Xnt+1 = 1 (21)

 t+1 t+1
Xn , T F (Vn ) <= r
Vnt+1 = wVnt + a1 r1 (Pnt − Xnt ) + a2 r2 (Gt − Xnt ) (16)
The whole optimization procedure is concisely depicted in
where Vn is the velocity of the nth particle, Xn is the position Fig. 7.
of the nth particle, t denotes the iteration number, w is called Considering the algorithm’s convergence by few test runs
the inertia weight, Pn is the personal best solution of the nth of the algorithm and observing acceptable computational time,
particle, G is the global best solution of the whole swarm, a1 we take the maximum number of iterations as 50. The electro-
is personal acceleration coefficient contributing in accelerating magnetic solver consumes the maximum computational time,
the movement of particle towards best experienced solution by whereas the controlling tool MATLAB requires very minimal

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The combination of n cells will offer a total inductance called

distributed inductance which is given by
LCSRR
dist = L1 + L2 + ..... + Ln (23)
The etched-out region of n cells offers a total capacitance,
called distributed capacitance and this is given by
CSRR
Cdist = C1 + C2 + ..... + Cn (24)
The equivalent resistance offered by the final CSRR is given
by
Rdist × RSU T
Req = (25)
Rdist + RSU T
The equivalent capacitance offered by the final CSRR is
given by
Cdist × CSU T
Fig. 7: Flow chart of the optimization procedure. Ceq = (26)
Cdist + CSU T
The equivalent circuit diagram for the final CSRR is given
in Fig. 8. R and L corresponds to the resistive loss and
time to generate and update the algorithm parameters. The inductance due to the microstrip line. The values of the
solver runs two times in each iteration - one for solvent called parameters used are extracted in Table II. The equivalent
solvent-run and another for the solution called solution-run.
In order to reduce the computational time, the solution-run is
terminated if the magnitude of S-parameters at resonance is
not below the threshold value in the solvent-run (-10 dB in our
case). Hence, the particle position is rejected. As the iterations
proceed, the position and velocity of each swarm particle of
the population are modified to move vectorially towards the
personal best solution and the global best solution.

D. Final designs
The designs given for CSRR and IDC in subsection A
are optimized using the BPSO algorithm to obtain higher Fig. 8: Equivalent circuit diagram for final CSRR.
efficiency of sensing. In this subsection, these modified designs
are analyzed and studied in detail.
circuit model is tested for both PB and lys and matched with
TABLE I: Comparison of cost function the simulated resonant frequency of the sensor, as seen in Fig.
9.
S.No. Sensor Name Value of Cost Function
1. Initial CSRR 1/0.00614 = 162.84
2. Final CSRR 1/0.0137 = 72.96
3. Initial IDC 1/0.00491 = 203.665
4. Final IDC 1/0.00756 = 132.33

Table I shows the comparison of cost function of initial

and final designs to have an idea about how BPSO helped
increasing the NF and in-turn reducing the CF.
1) Final CSRR: The cell patterned CSRR is a combination
of cells. Let us consider that the inductance and resistance
offered by a metalized pixel are represented by L1 and R1 .
Also, let us consider that the capacitance offered by a cell that
is etched out is C1 . Let us assume that the final CSRR has n
metalized cells and n cells are etched out. The net resistance
Fig. 9: Simulation vs equivalent circuit model for final CSRR.
offered by the metalized n cells will be the summation of the
resistance offered by individual cells. This total resistance is
called distributed resistance which is given by Fig. 10 (a) and (b) shows the electric field distribution of
the intial and final CSRR simulated at fsolvent = 2.117 GHz
CSRR
Rdist = R1 + R2 + ..... + Rn (22) and fsolvent = 2.189 GHz. respectively.

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Fig. 10: Electric field distribution in V/m of (a) initial CSRR
at f=2.117 GHz and (b) final CSRR at f=2.189 GHz.
2) Final IDC: Let us assume that the cell patterned IDC is
a combination of n metalized cells and n etched-out cells.
Let the resistance offered by a metalized pixel be R1 and the
capacitance offered by an etched-out cell be C1 .
The combination of n metalized cells will offer a total
resistance called distributed resistance which is given by
IDC
Rdist = Rc1 + Rc2 + ..... + Rcn
The total capacitance offered by the cell patterned region
called distributed capacitance is given by
IDC
Cdist = Cc1 + Cc2 + ..... + Ccn
In presence of the SUT, the equivalent resistance (Req ) of the
final IDC is the combined resistance offered by the combi-
nation of resistances Rc1 to Rcn and RSU T . On the other
hand, the capacitance (C) of the final IDC is the combined
capacitance offered by the combination of capacitances Cc1
to Ccn and CSU T . Lm is the equivalent inductance offered by
the final IDC. R corresponds to the resistive loss due to the
microstrip line. The values of these parameters are extracted in
Table II. The equivalent circuit diagram for final IDC is given
in Fig. 11. Furthermore, we can see from Fig. 12, that the
Fig. 11: Equivalent circuit diagram for final IDC.
frequency response of the equivalent model matches with the
simulation results, indicating correct assumption of the circuit
parameters.
Fig. 13 (a) and (b) shows the electric field distribution of
the initial and final IDC simulated at fsolvent = 2.036 GHz
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Fig. 12: Simulation vs equivalent circuit model for final IDC.
and fsolvent = 0.794 GHz respectively. It is evident that the
E-Field is concentrated between the fingers of the IDC and
the top of the fingers. It is observed that the effective area of
fringing E-field in the final designs is decreased as compared
to the initial designs.
(27)
(28)
Fig. 13: Electric field distribution in V/m of (a) initial IDC at
f=2.036 GHz and (b) final IDC at f=0.794 GHz.
From Table II, it can be observed that there is a decrease in
Ceq while moving from PB to lys which corresponds to the
right shift in the resonant frequency across initial and final
CSRR. An increase in the Req in initial CSRR while moving
from PB to lys corresponds to the decrease in the magnitude
of S21 . A decrease in the Req in final CSRR while moving
from PB to lys corresponds to the increase in the magnitude of
S21 . A decrease in the Req in initial IDC while moving from
PB to lys corresponds to the increase in the magnitude of S11 .
An increase in the Req in final IDC while moving from PB
to lys corresponds to the decrease in the magnitude of S11 .
E. Experimental Setup
The designed sensors are fabricated using PCB technology.
Fig. 14 shows the initial CSRR fed as an input to BPSO
and the final CSRR obtained after the optimization. Fig. 15
shows the initial IDC before BPSO and the final IDC after
BPSO. The sensors are soldered with the SMA connectors on
both ends for connecting to the VNA. The design under test
(DUT) is connected to VNA via coaxial cables. The complete
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TABLE II: Extracted parameters from equivalent circuit model

RF sensor
Initial CSRR Final CSRR Initial IDC Final IDC
design
Equivalent PB lys PB lys PB lys PB lys
circuit R1 =R2 =0.06 kΩ R1 =R2 =0.06 kΩ R=0.03 kΩ R=0.03 kΩ R=0.0456 kΩ R=0.0456 kΩ R=0.0625 kΩ R=0.0625 kΩ
parameters L1 =L2 = 33 nH L1 = L2 = 33 nH L= 13 nH L= 13 nH Lm = 8.2 nH Lm = 8.2 nH Lm = 2 nH Lm = 2 nH
C1 = 0.31 pF C1 = 0.31 pF C= 0.785 pF C= 0.785 pF Cm = 0.7 pF Cm = 0.7 pF Cm = 0.7 pF Cm = 0.7 pF
L= 1 nH L= 1 nH Ldist = 1 nH Ldist = 1 nH
Ceq = 5.34 pF Ceq = 5.275 pF Ceq = 4.5 pF Ceq = 4.36 pF C= 0.24 pF C= 0.8 pF C= 0.85 pF C= 0.9 pF
Req = 2.8 kΩ Req = 3.2 kΩ Req = 32 kΩ Req = 10 kΩ Req = 0.5 kΩ Req = 0.35 kΩ Req = 0.27 kΩ Req = 1.59 kΩ

is 500 µl, whereas it is 1200 µl for the IDC.

Phosphate buffer (PB) solution of concentration 1 M and
pH 6.7 is prepared by dissolving 34 gm of PB in 1 litre of
deionized (DI) water. This is used as a solvent for all the
experiments. 10 mg/ml solutions of L-Lysine, glucose and
sucrose are then prepared by performing dilution of SUTs (L-
Lysine anhydrous extra-pure, dextrose extra-pure and sucrose
extra-pure) in PB solution, followed by constant stirring.
The experiments are performed at room temperature, under
normal ambient conditions [48]–[52]. The experiments have
been repeated thrice for each set of analyte for testing the
Fig. 14: Fabricated initial and final CSRR.
reproducibility and reusability of the sensor. A measured
standard deviation of NF have been reported in Table IV for
each of the SUT showing good accuracy.

III. R ESULTS AND D ISCUSSION

A. Analysis of Response of Different SUTs
From Table III, we can see that the final simulated CSRR
and IDC based designs resonate at 2.189 GHz and 0.794 GHz
whereas, the fabricated designs resonate at 2.182 GHz and
0.728 GHz respectively. For L-Lysine, which is our primary
analyte under investigation, the BPSO optimized designs pro-
vide NFs much higher than the initial ones. The final CSRR
has an NF of 0.056 while that of the final IDC is 0.0055, both
Fig. 15: Fabricated initial and final IDC. of which are sufficiently larger than the NFs obtained using
the traditional designs.

experimental setup is shown in Fig. 16 for CSRR and IDC TABLE III: Comparison of NF
based sensors as the DUTs. It consists of a Keysight 26.5 Sensor Name Simulated NF Experimental NF
Initial CSRR (2.13-2.117)/2.117=0.00614 (2.545-2.542)/2.542=0.0012
Final CSRR (2.219-2.189)/2.189 =0.0137 (2.306-2.182)/2.182=0.0568
Initial IDC (2.045-2.035)/2.035=0.00491 (1.883-1.878)/1.878=0.0027
Final IDC (0.8-0.794)/0.794=0.00756 (0.732-0.728)/0.728=0.0055

Table IV lists the NFs obtained in the detection of lys, glu

and suc for all the sensors. It is observed that for all four
sensors, the trend of the NF is as follows:

N F lys < N F glu < N F suc (29)

TABLE IV: Comparison of Experimental NF for all SUTs

Sensor lys glu suc
Name
Fig. 16: Experimental setup. Initial CSRR 0.0012±0.00059 0.0028±0.00039 0.0051±0.00047
Final CSRR 0.0568±0.00147 0.059±0.00105 0.061±0.00045
Initial IDC 0.0027±0.00079 0.0037±0.00053 0.0053±0.00053
GHz VNA, a 1000 µl micro-pipette, a 100 µl micro-pipette Final IDC 0.0055±0.00079 0.0096±0.00137 0.018±0.00288
and the solutions under test. The sample volume for the CSRR

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Fig. 17: S21 plot of fabricated initial and final CSRR.

Fig. 18: S11 plot of fabricated initial and final IDC.

Furthermore, Fig. 17 and Fig. 18 show the frequency L-Lysine. The ambient temperature around the experimental
response of the initial CSRR and IDC on the left side, i.e., setup affects the relaxation time and the complex permittivity
before BPSO and final CSRR and IDC on the right side, i.e., that results in a shift of resonating frequency. The expression
after BPSO. In particular, we look at the S21 response for the which relates temperature and relaxation time is as follows
CSRR and S11 response for the IDC. The resonant frequency [53]
is used as the property for distinguishing between all the SUTs. Eτ
τ = τ0 exp( ) (32)
We can see that the trend followed by the resonance frequency kB T
of these sensors is as follows where Eτ represents diffusion change carriers, and kB repre-
sents Boltzmann’s constant (1.3807 x 10−23 J/K).
f P B < f lys < f glu < f suc (30)
Expression of complex permittivity of the SUT (εSU T ) in B. Sensitivity
accordance to debye dispersion model is given by Since the sensor can be used to test different samples with
εS − ε∞ different dielectric constant values, we need to normalize the
εSU T = ε∞ + (1 + j(2πf τ )) (31)
1 + (2πf τ )2 NF with respect to the change in the dielectric constant of the
SUTs.
where ε∞ is high frequency relative permittivity, εS is sub-
strate permittivity, f is the frequency and τ is the relaxation TABLE V: Comparison of Sensitivity
time.
From (31), we can see that as the relaxation time is Sensor Name Sensitivity (in %) Enhancement Factor
increased, it results in the reduction of the real part of εSU T . In Initial CSRR
0.0528
case of analytes with higher molecular size, the viscous effect (CSRR before optimization) 47.38×
Final CSRR
is more pronounced. When the SUT is added to the solvent, 2.502
(CSRR after optimization)
it increases the relaxation time. This in turn, reduces the Initial IDC
0.119
dielectric constant of the solution and increases the resonant (IDC before optimization) 2.03×
Final IDC
frequency of the sensor. Since, the molecular weight of sucrose 0.242
(IDC after optimization)
is the highest among the three SUTs, it results in the highest
resonance frequency. This is followed by glucose and then

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TABLE VI: Comparison of this work and other published works
Reference No. Resonant Frequency Sample Volume
[54] 8.96 GHz
[55] 2.19 GHz
[56] 2.29 GHz
[57] 1.06 GHz
2.182 GHz (CSRR)
This work
0.728 GHz (IDC)
The optimization of the sensor is done using L-Lysine as
the SUT, therefore we the sensitivity of the sensor is measured
with respect to L-Lysine. The sensitivity of the sensor is
defined as
NF
S= (33)
∆ε′
where ∆ε′ is the change in dielectric constant defined as
∆ε′ = ε′solvent − ε′solution
In Table V using (33), we have compared the sensitivities
of the four sensors. It is found that the sensitivity of the
final CSRR and IDC is greater than that of their respective
initial designs. The sensitivity of CSRR before optimization is
0.0528, whereas that of CSRR after optimization is 2.502. The
sensitivity of IDC before optimization is 0.119, whereas that of
IDC after optimization is 0.242. Using (35), an enhancement
of sensitivity by a factor of 47.38 is observed in the CSRR
after optimization compared to the CSRR before optimization.
Also, an enhancement of sensitivity by a factor of 2.03 is
observed in the IDC after optimization compared to the IDC
before optimization, as seen in Table V.
In Table VI, we have compared the sensitivity of our final
fabricated sensors with those in literature. The sensitivity of
the CSRR sensor is significantly higher than that of the other
sensors in literature, offering an improvement by a factor in
the range of 6-133. On the other hand, the sensitivity offered
by the IDC sensor is slightly lower than our CSRR sensor and
offers improvement by a factor of 1.1-12.
C. Enhancement Factor
In order to quantify the enhancement taking place in the
sensing of the different materials, we define a parameter called
enhancement in the sensitivity. This gives an estimate of the
ratio of sensitivity of the final sensor after optimization to that
of sensitivity of the initial sensor before optimization.
Sf inal
Es =
Sinitial
This improvement indicates an appreciable contribution of the
BPSO in improving the enhancement of the sensing of the
different SUTs.
IV. C ONCLUSION
In this work, we performed BPSO based optimization for
maximizing the sensitivity of solvent-filled CSRR and IDC
based RF sensors. For L-Lysine detection, the sensitivity
of the IDC and CSRR is improved by a factor of 47.38
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Sensitivity in % Design Complexity
7 µl 0.0188 High
10 ml 0.366 High
20 µl 0.222 Moderate
68 µl 0.8 for ε ∼(70-80) Low
500 µl 2.502 Low
1200 µl 0.242 Low
and 2.03 respectively, when compared to their conventional
counterparts. The sensing of glucose and sucrose is also
performed with high efficiency. The efficacy of utilizing BPSO
is thoroughly analyzed and the technique is found to deliver
promising results, irrespective of the type of initial design fed
to the algorithm. Thus, this methodology can be extended to
optimize a plethora of sensors and design highly efficient RF
bio-sensing platforms.
(34)
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This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/JSEN.2022.3148349, IEEE Sensors
Journal
12

Kunal Wadhwani (S’20) received the B.E. de-

gree in electronics and telecommunication from
IET-DAVV, Indore, India, in 2018. He is cur-
rently pursuing the M.S. by research degree in
electronics and communication with the Center
for VLSI and Embedded System Technologies,
International Institute of Information Technology
(IIIT)-Hyderabad, India. His research interests
are RF and microwave sensing for biomedical
applications, microfluidics integrated microwave
structures, RF and digital integrated circuits, and
RF energy harvesting.

Sheena Hussaini received the B.Tech degree

from Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University,
Hyderabad, India in 2008, and the M.S. and
Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from
Wright State University, Dayton, OH, USA in
2011 and 2015, respectively. She is currently
with the MN Smart Radios, R&D, Nokia of Amer-
ica Corporation, Dallas, TX, USA. She serves
as a reviewer and editorial board member for
various conferences and journals. She is a re-
cipient of research fellowship award from Wright
State University, USA and best paper award for category sensors
from AIAA/ASME in 2013. Her research interests are RFICs, wireless
communication, Mobile Networks, Millimeter wave, antennas and RF
biosensors.

Annesha Mazumder finished her B. Tech. in

Electronics and Communication from Heritage
Institute of Technology, Kolkata. She is cur-
rently a PhD student at the Centre for VLSI
and Embedded Systems, IIIT-Hyderabad. Her
research interests include RF/Microwave sens-
ing for biochemical applications, RF/Microwave
design and VLSI. Recently, she received the
IHub-Data, IIIT- Hyderabad research fellowship.

Syed Azeemuddin (SM’16) received the B.E.

degree from MJCET, Osmania University, Hyder-
abad, India, in 2003, and the M.S. and Ph.D. de-
grees from Southern Illinois University, Carbon-
dale, IL, USA, in 2005 and 2008, respectively.
He was a Faculty Member of IIIT-Hyderabad,
Hyderabad, India. He is involved in the develop-
ment and fabrication of integrated optical gyro-
scope, CMOS RF LNA, on-chip RF inductors,
and bio-sensors. His current research interests
include RFICs, devices, and all-optical devices
using Ring Lasers. Dr. Azeemuddin is a member of various professional
societies viz. OSA, IETE, and VLSI Society of India. He has been active
in over-all development of society for eternal success. He is a reviewer
of various conferences and journals. He received the Gold Medal
award from MJCET, Osmania University; Masters Fellowship Award and
Doctoral Fellowship Award from SIUC, USA; and Visvesvaraya Young
Faculty Award from the Government of India.

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