A novel wiring scheme for standard chips enabling high-accuracy impedance cytometry

While there is a great interest in microfluidic impedance cytometry as a label-free approach for single-particle analysis, the accuracy of the technique is challenged by the positional dependence issue, i.e. identical particles flowing in the microchannel along different trajectories provide different signals. We solve this issue without resorting to particle focusing, by means of a straightforward modification of the conventional wiring scheme for the standard impedance chip comprising two pairs of facing electrodes. Instead of applying the AC voltage to electrodes on the same side of the channel and collecting the differential current flowing through the electrodes on the other side, we apply the AC voltage to diagonally opposite electrodes and collect the differential current flowing through the remaining ones. Therefore, the bipolar signal recorded upon the passage of a particle shows opposite pulses with different amplitude. The relative difference of the latter is a new metric enabling a simple compensation procedure of the signal impedance for off-center particles. Impedance data for 5.2, 6, and 7 μm particles are collected, and coefficients of variation in (electrical) diameter of particles respectively of 2.8%, 1%, and 1.2%, similar to the manufacturers’ quoted values, are obtained. The novel operation mode is successfully implemented also in a coplanar electrode configuration, exploiting two pairs of liquid electrodes.