In this work, we propose a current-mode dielectric spectroscopy integrated circuit (IC) for the detection of liquids permittivity at microwave frequency range. The current-mode sensing scheme presents wideband operation with enhanced dynamic range compared to conventional voltage-mode sensing approach. A low intermediate frequency (IF) receiver architecture further provides better performances in flicker noise, dc offset, and harmonic mixing that degrade a sensor accuracy in zero-IF receiver architecture. Measured maximum conversion gain is 31.4 dB at 0.4 GHz RF frequency, while the 1dB-compression point (P1dBP_{\text{1}dB}) is measured to be -8 dBm at 1 GHz RF frequency. The operation frequency of the proposed spectroscopy IC is from 50 MHz to 4 GHz according to 3 dB bandwidth. The permittivity measurements for propanol across the frequency range of 0.03-10 GHz are performed with root mean square (rms) permittivity error of 0.49. The dielectric spectroscopy IC is fabricated in 28-nm CMOS technology with active area of 0.5 mm × 0.2 mm only, while consuming 13 mW from a 1.2 V supply.

中文翻译：

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用于液体介电常数测量的电流模式介电谱


在这项工作中，我们提出了一种电流模式介电谱集成电路（IC），用于在微波频率范围内检测液体介电常数。与传统的电压模式感测方法相比，电流模式感测方案提供了具有增强动态范围的宽带操作。低中频 (IF) 接收器架构进一步在闪烁噪声、直流偏移和谐波混频方面提供更好的性能，而这些特性会降低零中频接收器架构中的传感器精度。在 0.4 GHz RF 频率下测得的最大转换增益为 31.4 dB，而在 1 GHz RF 频率下测得的 1dB 压缩点 (P1dBP_{\text{1}dB}) 为 -8 dBm。根据 3 dB 带宽，所提出的光谱 IC 的工作频率为 50 MHz 至 4 GHz。在 0.03-10 GHz 频率范围内进行丙醇介电常数测量，均方根 (rms) 介电常数误差为 0.49。介电光谱 IC 采用 28 nm CMOS 技术制造，有效面积仅为 0.5 mm × 0.2 mm，在 1.2 V 电源下功耗为 13 mW。