Description:
Background
Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy is an essential tool for detecting and analyzing radicals and substances with unpaired electrons, with applications spanning biomedical diagnostics, materials science, and chemical analysis. However, conventional EPR instruments are constrained by their bulky size, high cost, and substantial power requirements, restricting their use to laboratory environments and limiting their practicality for field studies and real-world applications.
Furthermore, existing EPR systems require hardware to be swapped to transition between continuous-wave (CW) and pulsed modes of operation and can measure only one sample at once. The lack of seamless transition between continuous-wave (CW) and pulsed operation modes, as well as multiplexed measurement capabilities, compromises adaptability and measurement throughput. These limitations highlight the need for a highly integrated, portable alternative that maintains high performance while reducing size, power consumption, and cost.
Technology Overview
This portable dual-mode EPR spectrometer integrates continuous-wave and pulsed measurement capabilities within a custom 14 GHz system-on-chip (SoC) fabricated in 65nm CMOS technology. The 2×1.5 mm² chip employs LC oscillator-based sensing cells, supporting both pulse generation and detection for pulse operation, as well as frequency sweep and modulation for CW. On-chip pulse-forming logic achieves sub-nanosecond timing resolution, ensuring precise pulse-mode spectroscopic measurements. Dedicated signal processing circuits enhance detection accuracy and sensitivity, and dual independent sensor cells offer multiplexed measurement capabilities.
The chip is integrated into a portable spectroscopy platform with a miniaturized 0.5 Tesla permanent magnet, enabling operation with only a laptop for control and data processing. By consolidating CW and pulsed EPR modes within a single chip with compatibility with low-cost, miniaturized permanent magnets, this technology significantly reduces the footprint, cost, and power requirements of traditional EPR systems while maintaining high-speed, high-sensitivity performance.
Benefits
- Eliminates the size and power constraints of conventional EPR spectrometers, enabling portable and field-deployable applications.
- Enhances measurement accuracy with sub-nanosecond timing resolution and robust signal processing.
- Integrates CW and pulsed EPR functionalities on a single sensor without requiring hardware reconfiguration, improving operational flexibility and data fidelity.
- Multiplexed sensing with dual independent sensing cells.
- Reduces system complexity and cost while maintaining high sensitivity, making advanced EPR spectroscopy more accessible.
Applications
- Biomedical diagnostics and biosensing
- Materials science and nanotechnology research
- Environmental monitoring and field-based chemical analysis
- Pharmaceutical and drug development studies
- Fundamental physics and chemistry research