Investigation of the crosstalk between multiple resonators in a single chip for simultaneous heating and sensing in microfluidics system

In microfluidics system, microwave heating and sensing have been individually achieved for many applications. Simultaneous heating and sensing offers tremendous potential for tailored reaction which is high demand in material synthesis, however, it has always been very challenging. To fully realize the potential of simultaneous sensing and heating, at least two resonators with one sensing the droplet and the other heating it are needed. More resonators often provide more control and potential high throughput through multiplexing operation. But the crosstalk between resonators would limit the number of resonators. As the crosstalk usually results in the unwanted capacitive, inductive, and conductive coupling, which is the significant challenge for multiplexing performance.

This study investigates the fundamental challenges of integrating two or more microwave resonators within a typical microfluidic device footprint. In order to prevent crosstalk, numerical simulation is carried out to investigate the limitation of the distance between two adjacent resonators. The ANSYS HFSS is used to perform the electromagnetic analysis based on the finite element method. Experimental studies are also conducted to validate the numerical results using vector network analyzer.