Interferometric Near-field Microwave Microscopy Platform for Electromagnetic Micro-analysis

We report an original near-field microwave microscope based on an interferometric technique for dielectric characterization in liquid media. The instrumentation combines a vector network analyzer, an interferometry-based matching network and dedicated evanescent microstrip probes fabricated in silicon technology. The measurement sensitivity of the measured microwave signals can be enhanced at the desired frequency in the range 1-26 GHz. Other advantages such as simplicity of operation and high spatial resolution are also achieved. As a demonstration, we have observed a high electromagnetic coupling between the probe tip and the liquid under investigation featuring emergent applications in biological and chemical researches.