To achieve better accuracy in their investigations, biologists have recently been using three-dimensional models as intermediates between two-dimensional cell culture and the in vivo study of tissues. Some of these models are based on spheroids, which are cellular aggregates retaining many characteristics of in vivo behaviors while being still easy to use and implement in labs. To study such objects, multiple observation techniques can be used according to the objective of the study, including those using electromagnetic waves as nondestructive, noninvasive, and label-free analysis. Low-frequency (<1 MHz) ones are currently under investigation as electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. However, unlike microwaves (from 300 MHz to 60 GHz), they cannot penetrate the cell. Furthermore, most of the devices dedicated to microwave dielectric characterization are only focusing on cellular scales lower than spheroids (single cell, cell mats, or suspensions) or on tissues and organs. In this article, a microwave spectroscopy device using a coplanar waveguide adapted to the study of spheroids is presented with the dielectric characterization of fixed spheroids, with capacitance and conductance measurements from 0.5 to 20 GHz, aiming at filling the scale gap in the state of the art.

In this paper, a simple and compact coplanar waveguide (CPW)-fed four coexisting inverted-L-shaped radiating elements based wideband (ILW) multi-input and multi-output (MIMO) antenna has been presented for wearable wireless applications. The 50 Ω CPW feed structure has been used to excite the four inverted-L-shaped radiators in a wide square slot of the proposed four-port wearable MIMO antenna. The four diagonal strips are extended from the corners of the wide square slot to form a square split ring structure in the center, which suppresses the coupling of electromagnetic waves among coexisting compact quad inverted-L-shaped radiators. The proposed ILW wearable MIMO antenna achieves a wide −10 dB simulated impedance bandwidth of 58.18% (3.9–7.1 GHz) and more than 30 dB isolation along with much reduced envelope correlation coefficient (<0.0002), high diversity gain (>9.9 dB), and specific absorption rate lower than 1 W/kg in the entire operational band. The simulated results are in good agreement with the measured ones. This ensures its utility for several wearable wireless applications in the C-band that comprises WLAN (5 and 5.2 GHz), Wi-MAX (5.5 GHz), and ISM band (5.8 GHz) applications.

This paper presents a systematic comparison of the relationship between transmission line characteristic impedance and Q-factor of CPW, slow-wave CPW, microstrip, and slow-wave microstrip in the same CMOS back-end-of-line process. It is found that the characteristic impedance for optimal Q-factor depends on the ground-to-ground spacing of the slow-wave transmission line. Although the media are shown to be similar from a mode of propagation point of view, the 60-GHz optimal Q-factor for slow-wave transmission lines is achieved when the characteristic impedance is ≈23 Ω for slow-wave CPWs and ≈43 Ω for slow-wave microstrip lines, with Q-factor increasing for wider ground plane gaps. Moreover, it is shown that slow-wave CPW is found to have a 12% higher optimal Q-factor than slow-wave microstrip for a similar chip area. The data presented here may be used in selecting Z0 values for S-MS and S-CPW passives in CMOS that maximize transmission line Q-factors.

The paper presents a new coplanar waveguide (CPW)-fed rectangular patch antenna with a square-shaped ground plane that can be employed in modern advanced navigation systems. For realizing broad impedance bandwidth in the proposed antenna, a wide slot is introduced in the square ground plane and the rectangular patch is shifted toward the left edge of the ground surface. In addition, by means of introducing square-shaped stubs near the left and right edge of the ground plane, the circular polarization is achieved at L1, L2, and L5 satellite bands. As per the simulation results, the proposed antenna provides a wide impedance bandwidth (S11<−10 dB) of 123% (1.12–4.72 GHz) and 3 dB axial ratio bandwidth of 11% (1.15–1.29 GHz) and 18% (1.5–1.8 GHz) suitable for multipurpose wireless applications. The designed single feed circularly polarized antenna is low profile, small size, light weight and easily integrable with other high-frequency communication devices. To validate radiation performance of the proposed structure, the antenna is fabricated and integrated with the commercially available Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver and it is found that the measured values are in close agreement with the desired results.

In this paper, a metasurface-based aperture-coupled circularly polarized (CP) antenna with wideband and high radiation gain is proposed and analyzed. The proposed antenna is comprised of coplanar waveguide coupling with 4 × 4 corner truncated square patches, which show compact size and low profile. The mechanism of the CP antenna is analyzed theoretically based on the mode analysis and equivalent circuit analysis. The parameters of feeding structure and truncated corner are studied and optimized to achieve wide impedance bandwidth (BW) and axial ratio (AR) BW. Finally, an overall size of 38.8 mm × 38.8 mm × 3.5 mm (0.71λ0 × 0.71λ0 × 0.064λ0 at 5.5 GHz) CP antenna is proposed and fabricated. The simulated results demonstrate that over 41.7% impedance BW (S11 < −10 dB) of 4.55–6.95 GHz and 3 dB AR BW of 5.05–6.15 GHz (fractional BW is about 19.6%) are achieved. In addition, the antenna yielded a broadside CP radiation with a high gain average about 7.5 dBic. Experimental results are in good agreement with the simulated ones.

A study on the microwave performance of a metallic transmission line capable of simultaneously transmitting microwave and optical signals is presented targeting millimeter-long interconnects. Conventional analytical solution is used to find the optimal structure for a given characteristic impedance. Then, functionality of the link is validated through S-parameter measurements for 3–13 mm long lines. The waveguide parameters, such as resistance, inductance, capacitance, and conductance are extracted based on a lumped circuit model. The modeling enables structure optimization for interconnect bandwidth density of 1 Gb/s/μm and more.

In this article, a new construction of a small planar dual-band fed printed monopole antenna based on coplanar waveguide is suggested. Impedance matching for dual-band operations is obtained by embedding three vertical strips with different sizes in the U-shaped conductor-backed plane. The main problem of the designed antenna is the measuring of the specifications with the Agilent 8722ES Vector Network Analyzer, when the coaxial cable is connected to the antenna. Hence, in this paper a new method for decoupling the cable from the antenna is presented. This method is based on using the ferrite bead. The ferrite bead reduces the cable radiation, so that its position plays the important part in the antenna radiation characteristics. The fabricated antenna includes the benefits of the miniaturized size and dual-band operating specifications, so that the mentioned properties have been achieved without modifying the coplanar-waveguide-ground surface or radiator patch. The antenna has the small size of 15 × 15 × 0.8 mm3and bandwidths with S11 < −10 dB about 2.2 GHz (5.05–7.25 GHz) for WLAN-band or IEEE 802.11a-band and 5.2GHz (7.6–12.8 GHz) for X-band, which correspond to 36 and 51% practical bandwidths, respectively. The antenna measured peak gains are about 1.8 dBi at WLAN-band and 4.3 dBi at X-band.

Performance comparison is made between on-chip spiral inductor in flip-chip versus wirebond package technology. Full-wave electromagnetic simulation and on-strip measurement techniques were used to study the performance fluctuations of inductor within flip-chip environment. Results show that the performance of a flipped silicon-based spiral inductor is affected by the radio frequency (RF) current return path differences. The RF current return path for flip-chip is concentrated on the surface of silicon layer exclusively because back side ground under silicon is floating in flip-chip technology. In addition, the bump proximity effect is also considered. On-chip inductors in flip-chip environment must be optimized by reducing the eddy current in the silicon substrate and parasitic affects by adjusting design parameters. The equivalent circuit model of the flipped on-chip spiral inductor is verified with measured results over broadband frequencies. Also, the RF flip-chip characterization technique using on-strip measurement method is presented.

This paper discusses on the miniaturization of radiofrequency (RF) front-end components such as half-wavelength resonators based on new magneto-dielectric heterostructures combining high permeability (µ = 150–250) and high permittivity (ε = 18–150). Size reduction is evaluated by means of 2-cm-long coplanar waveguides realized with silicon technology and having a resonance frequency of about 3 GHz. The experimental results show a physical length reduction of 11.2% due to the dielectric contribution (ε = 18) and 14.8% by cumulating dielectric and magnetic effects (ε = 18 and µ = 150). These results are significant with respect to the moderate thickness of the preliminary material used here (only 150 nm). In a second part, a predictive model is proposed with µ and ε as variables. When adjusting the material properties in a realistic way (µ = 250 and ε = 150), the model predicts size reduction of ~50% for the same thickness. Larger values can be expected with increasing the film thickness.