A Magnetically Coupled Communication and Charging Platform for Microsensors

A double layer spiral antenna with side length of 740 μm was fabricated by a multilayer electroplating process and bonded with an radio frequency identification chip by silver epoxy to form a microsensor chip. A theoretical power transfer model was built to optimize the power transfer efficiency. The resonant frequency of the microsensor was characterized inside a small coupling loop, exhibiting a high degree of agreement with theoretical results. A magnetically coupled communication and charging platform was developed to work with the microsensors. The reader antenna was composed of a coupling loop and a secondary coil with 40-mm diameter wrapped around a polycarbonate tube. To maximize the magnetic field generated inside the secondary coil, a lump circuit model was built and its resonant modes were analyzed. The maximum current inside the secondary coil was achieved at the serial resonant frequency, at which the current followed a sinusoidal distribution along the coil. The magnetic field distribution inside the coil was calculated to analyze the read-out of the reader antenna. The communication and power transfer was demonstrated with the microsensors flowing through the reader antenna by successfully retrieving the sensor ID.