title: Analytical electric field and sensitivity analysis for two microfluidic impedance cytometer designs.
abstract: Microfabricated impedance cytometers have been developed to measure the electrical impedance of single biological particles at high speed. A general approach to analytically solve the electric field distributions for two different designs of cytometers: parallel facing electrodes and coplanar electrodes, using the Schwarz-Christoffel Mapping method is presented. Compared to previous analytical solutions, our derivations are more systematic and solutions are more straightforward. The solutions have been validated by comparison with numerical simulations performed using the finite element method. The influences on the electric field distribution due to the variations in the geometry of the devices have been discussed. A simple method is used to determine the impedance sensitivity of the system and to compare the two electrode designs. For identical geometrical parameters, we conclude that the parallel electrodes design is more sensitive than the coplanar electrodes.
authors.affiliation: Nanoscale Systems Integration Group, School of Electronics and Computer Science, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK. ts04r@ecs.soton.ac.uk
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: N G
authors.initials: NG
authors.lastname: Green
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gawad
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Morgan
mesh_terms: D003198:Computer Simulation; D017076:Computer-Aided Design; D017097:Electric Impedance; D004574:Electromagnetic Fields; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D005434:Flow Cytometry / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D044085:Microfluidics / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D008962:Models, Theoretical