{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,17]],"date-time":"2026-06-17T21:31:54Z","timestamp":1781731914694,"version":"3.54.5"},"reference-count":31,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"6","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2020,3,18]],"date-time":"2020-03-18T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1584489600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100004040","name":"KU Leuven","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["microwave microbiology"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["microwave microbiology"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100004040","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100003130","name":"Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["G0A1220N"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["G0A1220N"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100003130","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100003130","name":"Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["IS23918N"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["IS23918N"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100003130","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Sensors"],"abstract":"<jats:p>This work presents a novel platform conceived as an interconnect box (ICB) that brings high-frequency signals from microwave instruments to consumable lab-on-a-chip devices. The ICB can be connected to instruments with a standard coaxial connector and to consumable chips by introducing a spring-levered interface with elastomer conductive pins. With the spring-system, microwave-microfluidic chips can be mounted reliably on the setup in a couple of seconds. The high-frequency interface within the ICB is protected from the environment by an enclosure having a single slit for mounting the chip. The stability and repeatability of the contact between the ICB and inserted consumable chips are investigated to prove the reliability of the proposed ICB. Given the rapid interconnecting of chips using the proposed ICB, five different interdigital capacitor (IDC) designs having the same sensing area were investigated for dielectric permittivity extraction of liquids. The designed IDCs, embedded in a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) channel, were fabricated with a lift-off gold patterning technology on a quartz substrate. Water\u2013Isopropanol (IPA) mixtures with different volume fractions were flushed through the channel over IDCs and sensed based on the measured reflection coefficients. Dielectric permittivity was extracted using permittivity extraction techniques, and fitted permittivity data shows good agreement with literature from 100 to 25 GHz.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/s20061687","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2020,3,19]],"date-time":"2020-03-19T03:54:14Z","timestamp":1584590054000},"page":"1687","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":11,"title":["A Microwave Platform for Reliable and Instant Interconnecting Combined with Microwave-Microfluidic Interdigital Capacitor Chips for Sensing Applications"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"20","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2728-8684","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Juncheng","family":"Bao","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Div. Telemic, Department of Electrical Engineering (ESAT), KU Leuven, Kasteelpark Arenberg 10, Box 2444, 3001 Leuven, Belgium"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3094-7839","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Gertjan","family":"Maenhout","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Div. Telemic, Department of Electrical Engineering (ESAT), KU Leuven, Kasteelpark Arenberg 10, Box 2444, 3001 Leuven, Belgium"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9645-5565","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Tomislav","family":"Markovic","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Div. Telemic, Department of Electrical Engineering (ESAT), KU Leuven, Kasteelpark Arenberg 10, Box 2444, 3001 Leuven, Belgium"},{"name":"IMEC, Kapeldreef 75, 3001 Heverlee, Belgium"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1503-7397","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ilja","family":"Ocket","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Div. Telemic, Department of Electrical Engineering (ESAT), KU Leuven, Kasteelpark Arenberg 10, Box 2444, 3001 Leuven, Belgium"},{"name":"IMEC, Kapeldreef 75, 3001 Heverlee, Belgium"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3986-2786","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Bart","family":"Nauwelaers","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Div. Telemic, Department of Electrical Engineering (ESAT), KU Leuven, Kasteelpark Arenberg 10, Box 2444, 3001 Leuven, Belgium"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,3,18]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"368","DOI":"10.1038\/nature05058","article-title":"The origins and the future of microfluidics","volume":"442","author":"Whitesides","year":"2006","journal-title":"Nature"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1230","DOI":"10.1039\/C4LC01246A","article-title":"Microfluidic cell sorting: A review of the advances in the separation of cells from debulking to rare cell isolation","volume":"15","author":"Reyes","year":"2015","journal-title":"Lab Chip"},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2","DOI":"10.1002\/btpr.522","article-title":"A review of advanced small-scale parallel bioreactor technology for accelerated process development: Current state and future need","volume":"27","author":"Bareither","year":"2010","journal-title":"Biotechnol. 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