Although impedance spectroscopy is well established in scientific laboratories, e.g. for the characterisation of batteries and fuel cells, for monitoring the kinetics of chemical reactions and as a measuring method for biosensors, industrial application fails due to the cost intensity and complexity of these systems as well as the lack of transferability to various applications.

In the BICCell research project, IMMS will develop an integrated circuit (IC) to overcome the barrier to the industrial use of impedance spectroscopy. In contrast to the commercial devices commonly used for this purpose, the new IC will work with a method developed by the project partner, the Institute for Bioprocess and Analytical Measurement Techniques (iba), called relaxation spectroscopy. This involves the evaluation of the timing signal resulting from the excitation of the material with a step function.

With the IC, the method can easily be transferred to different applications due to its high variability and can therefore be used universally. The installation space and costs of impedance measurement systems can be minimized thanks to the IC.

The IC will be used to design a demonstrator and verify it in two selected applications: cell culture monitoring and test strip measurement. The SMEs in the committee accompanying the project can check the suitability of the chip for their specific applications and develop prototypes from it after the end of the project.