Coil on a chip

Surface Microcoils for MR Imaging

Coil-on-a-Chip™ Technology

Coil-on-a-Chip Technology provides:

Ultimate mass-sensitivity for MR imaging a high resolution of 10 µm and less
Imaging of small samples with reduced field of view of 1 mm2 and below
Ease of use since the sample can simply be eposited directly on to the chip surface
Exchangeable insert technology for full compatibility with existing Bruker micro-imaging hardware and software

Modern magnetic resonance micro-imaging applications require the investigation of submillimeter samples at very high isotropic spatial resolution of 10 µm and less. A technological breakthrough for these applications is Bruker BioSpin’s new Coil-on-a-Chip™ micro-imaging technology.

Based on surface microcoils with diameters as small as 20 µm, a gain in mass-sensitivity up to a factor of 50 compared to conventional 5 mm micro-imaging coils can be achieved. This allows 3D MR imaging with a voxel volume of only 1 picoliter in less than one hour. The new microcoils can be used as exchangeable inserts in vertical bore magnets and are compatible with standard micro-imaging probes.

About Coil-on-a-Chip Technology

Similar to the process used in the fabrication of microelectronic circuits, Coil-on-a-Chip technology is based on a state-of-the-art microfabrication process developed specifically to satisfy the unique requirements set by NMR applications.

The use of photolithography enables the fabrication of very small structures with a high degree of precision and reproducibility. This guarantees high performance,
even for extremely miniaturized coils.

With Coil-on-a-Chip technology, NMR steps into the world of Lab-on-a-Chip devices. By making it possible to work efficiently with small volume samples, Lab-on-a-Chip devices are revolutionizing the world of chemical and biological analysis.