Miniaturized triple notch metamaterial sensor for solid dielectric characterization with improved sensitivity

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to retrieve the dielectric constant of the material under test (MUT) by using an empirical relationship, which relates the dielectric properties with all three resonant frequencies of the proposed sensor. Each notch of the sensor is analyzed for sensitivity by using 15 different MUTs with relative permittivity ranging from 1.006 to 16.5 with a fixed dimension of 12 mm × 12 mm × 1.2 mm. Design/methodology/approach In this paper, we present a triple-notch metamaterial-based sensor for the solid dielectric characterization based on a microstrip transmission line and a direct coupled-double split ring resonator (DC-DSRR). The proposed sensor is designed, and its response is measured using a vector network analyzer to verify the concept. The shift in the resonant frequencies of the proposed sensor owing to contact with MUT is depicted as a function of permittivity using the curve fitting tool. Findings The proposed sensors have three notches, with the third notch being more sensitive than the first and second notch because of the high resonance frequency. For the first, second and third resonances, the proposed sensor has sensitivity ranges from 4.9% to 14.68%, 8.97% to 23.95% and 15.48% to 29.36%, respectively. The findings of the simulations, measurements and formulations are all in good accord. Originality/value In comparison to previous solid dielectric metamaterial sensors, the proposed triple-notch sensor based on a microstrip transmission line and DC-DSRR has the following advantages: it has a simple unit-cell structure and meets the needs of miniaturization, compact size, low cost and improved sensitivity. It determines the relative permittivity using all three notches so that the accuracy of the measurement is enhanced as compared with single- and double-notch sensors.