Novel interdigital sensors; analysis, measurement and evaluations

New types of planar interdigital sensors, fabricated using three different methods, to assess different chemicals related to food poisoning are reported in the paper. The sensors were designed to have different configurations. The sensors were fabricated using different substrates in order to investigate which of these sensors has better sensing performance. The first design was fabricated on a Printed Circuit Board (PCB) material made from a FR-4 fiberglass; the second sensor design was fabricated using thick film on alumina. The third sensor was designed using thin-film (MEMS) technology and was fabricated on a glass substrate. The sensors were evaluated for different configurations of electrode structure as well as dielectric materials. Experiments have been conducted to analyze the sensors´ performance with three peptide derivatives which are closely related to domoic acid, a natural toxin in seafood and with LPS structure which are related to food pathogens.