Biomed Microdevices (2008) 10:47–54
DOI 10.1007/s10544-007-9108-9
A flexible surface wetness sensor using a RFID technique
Cheng-Hao Yang & Jui-Hung Chien & Bo-Yan Wang &
Ping-Hei Chen & Da-Sheng Lee
Published online: 31 July 2007
# Springer Science + Business Media, LLC 2007
Abstract This paper presents a flexible wetness sensor
whose detection signal, converted to a binary code, is
transmitted through radio-frequency (RF) waves from a
radio-frequency identification integrated circuit (RFID IC) to
a remote reader. The flexible sensor, with a fixed operating
frequency of 13.56 MHz, contains a RFID IC and a sensor
circuit that is fabricated on a flexible printed circuit board
(FPCB) using a Micro-Electro-Mechanical-System (MEMS)
process. The sensor circuit contains a comb-shaped sensing
area surrounded by an octagonal antenna with a width of
2.7 cm. The binary code transmitted from the RFIC to the
reader changes if the surface conditions of the detector surface
changes from dry to wet. This variation in the binary code can
be observed on a digital oscilloscope connected to the reader.
Keywords Sensor . RFID . Flexible . Wetness
1 Introduction
One of the major functions of sensors is to improve the quality
of health care. Elderly people, in particular, have an increasing
need for better health care at home or in nursing houses
C.-H. Yang : J.-H. Chien : B.-Y. Wang : P.-H. Chen (*)
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
National Taiwan University,
No. 1, Roosevelt Rd Sec. 4,
Taipei 10617, Taiwan
e-mail: phchen@ntu.edu.tw
D.-S. Lee
Department of Energy and Refrigerating Air Conditioning
Engineering, National Taipei University of Technology,
Taipei 106, Taiwan
C.-H. Yang
email: taopdso@yahoo.com.tw
because the percentage of elderly people in the populations of
developed countries is growing significantly. Some ailing
elderly people, particularly paralyzed patients, must wear a
diaper when they are in bed. Unfortunately, most ailing
patients wearing diapers are unable to replace the diaper by
themselves when the diaper gets wet. A wetness sensor can
immediately alert nurses or caretakers to replace a patient’s wet
diaper as soon as it becomes wet. Such a quick replacement of
the wet diaper can prevent ailing patients from getting a rash on
their skin or experiencing other discomfort. The same wetness
sensor can also be applied to diapers worn by young babies at
night. However, the application of such a wetness sensor is
impractical unless it is small, inexpensive, disposable, soft and
flexible, wireless, and passive.
Recent years have witnessed major progress in the
development of wireless sensor systems. Researchers have
shown that wireless sensor systems can be applied to many
applications in a variety of industries, including health care,
biomedical systems, transportation, and environmental
monitoring (Leung et al. 1986). Inexpensive radio frequen-
cy identification (RFID) devices were commercialized
with battery-free tags for logistics tracking and security
applications (Finkenzeller 2003). Integrating a Micro-
Electro-Mechanical-System (MEMS) pressure sensor with
a radio-frequency (RF) modulation technique produces a
wireless passive monitoring system for pressure monitoring
(Huang and Oberle 1998). The power for a passive sensor is
usually provided by a reader through inductive coupling. One
study presented a microsystem utilizing inductive coupling
charging and data transfer through a backscatter-modulated
carrier and a transducer interface. This system can monitor
environmental conditions through embedded capacitive trans-
ducers (DeHennis and Wise 2005). All transducers for
temperature, pressure, and relative humidity sensing on a
single chip are realized using a silicon-on-glass process that
48
Fig. 1 A schematic view of the
RFID wetness sensor
combines an anodic binding and a silicon–gold eutectic to
achieve vacuum-sealed cavities with low-impedance electrical
feed-throughs. Another study developed a flexible wireless
pressure sensor module for implanted blood pressure sensing
using chip embedded flexible packaging (CEFP) technology
(Shin et al. 2005). This flexible sensor can easily be attached
to the outside of a blood vessel.
The aim of this study is to develop a novel wetness
sensor that is small, inexpensive, disposable, soft and
flexible, wireless, and passive. The sensor circuit was
fabricated from a thin copper film on a soft plastic substrate
using a standard MEMS process. A 13.56 MHz passive
radio-frequency identification integrated circuit (RFID IC)
was packaged with the sensor’s circuit for transmitting
detection signals to the reader.
2 Operation principle
Radio frequency identification (RFID) has been in use for
decades. Recently, many applications have generated in-
Fig. 2 An equivalent circuit of
the RFID wetness sensor
Biomed Microdevices (2008) 10:47–54
creasing demand for small and reliable sensors capable of
monitoring multiple environmental parameters. Systems that
integrate sensors and RF technology on a single chip are
therefore becoming increasingly important. Most RFID
devices use a backscatter modulation approach as their RF
transmission method. Backscatter modulation depends upon
the level of electromagnetic coupling between the reader
antenna and the RFIC antenna. A backscatter system is
similar to an air core transformer in which the reader
(interrogator) antenna serves as the primary coil and the
RFIC antenna serves as the secondary coil. The reader
broadcasts a carrier signal which induces a current in the
RFIC antenna according to both Ampere and Faraday’s laws.
The current induced by the electromagnetic field is called the
induced current. This induced current depends on the
strength of the broadcast electromagnetic (EM) field from
the reader, the distance between the transmitting and tag
antennas, and the orientation of the RFIC antenna in the
generated field. In most RFID applications, the AC current
induced in the RFIC antenna is rectified as the power source
for the RFIC. This type of RFIC is called a “passive” RFIC,
Biomed Microdevices (2008) 10:47–54 49

Table 1 Values of physical and electrical properties in the simulation the RFIC requires adding a capacitor with a capacitance of
of the equivalent circuits of the RFID wetness sensor
C2 parallel to the RFIC antenna, forming a parallel resonant
1
Symbol Descriptions Value circuit. For jwL2 ¼ jwC 2
in Eq. 4, the circuit is in a resonant
state. The angular resonant frequency is given by
L2 Inductance of the sensor antenna 4.85 μH
R2 Resistance of the sensor antenna 4.4 Ω 1
w ¼ pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi ð5Þ
RL0 Resistance of the RFIC 4.7 kΩ L2 C2
C2 Tuning capacitance of RFIC 28 pF

In a RFID resonant circuit system, the Q-factor repre-

sents the coupling efficiency between the reader and the
RFIC. This factor is usually used to determine the
communication range of the RFID system. The Q-factor is
while a RFIC with an on-board power source from a battery
defined as the resonant frequency (center frequency) fr
for transmitting data is called an “active” RFIC.
divided by the bandwidth Δf as Eq. 6 shows:
2.1 RFIC circuit analysis ω=2π fr
Q¼ ¼ ð6Þ
$f $f
Figure 1 shows a schematic view of connections between a
The equation for obtaining the Q-factor from the
RFID IC with the sensor and the RFIC antenna, which is the
equivalent circuit shown in Fig. 2 is given by
equivalent circuit of the RFID wetness sensor. Equations 1,
2, and 3 from an impedance analysis give the inductive 1 1
Q¼ qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiqffiffiffiffiffi ¼ ð7Þ
voltage of the RFIC antenna, U0, operating voltage of the R2 CL22 þ R1L CL22
R2
wL2 þ wL
RL
2

RFIC, U2, and inductive current, i2, through the RFIC

circuit. These equations are listed as below: A high Q-factor can be achieved with a high load
resistor RL and a low antenna resistance R2. In addition, the
di1
U0 ¼ M ¼ jwMii ð1Þ operating voltage U2 is now proportional to the Q-factor of
dt
the resonant circuit. A very high voltage U2 can be achieved
at a very low RFIC antenna resistance with a high value
load resistor.
di2
U 2 ¼ U 0  L2  i2 R2 ¼ jwMii  jwL2 i2  i2 R2 ð2Þ Table 1 presents all the physical and electrical property
dt
values of the major parameters used in this study.
According to Eq. 5, the inductance of the present sensor
U2 U2 U2 antenna is calculated at a value around 4.8 μH. Tuning
i2 ¼ ¼ ¼ ð3Þ capacitance of C′2 is known from the datasheet of the RFIC
Cp ==C20 ==RL C2 ==RL jwC2 ==RL
(GT8160) used in this study. The resistance of RL and the
where M denotes mutual inductance between the reader and resistance of R2 are measured by an LCR Meter (4230,
the RFIC, i1 denotes the current through the reader’s circuit, Wayne Kerr Electronics). Table 1 gives the parameters for
L2 denotes RFIC antenna inductance, R2 denotes RFIC the simulation of the equivalent circuit of the sensor circuit
antenna resistance, RL denotes RFIC resistance, Cp denotes as calculated by using Agilent Advance Design System
parasitic capacitance on the RFIC antenna, C2′ denotes 2004A (Agilent ADS). Based on Eq. 7, the Q-factor is
RFIC tuning capacitance, and C2 is the summation of Cp around 10.05 for the proposed RFID IC circuit at a resonant
and C2′. frequency of 13.56 MHz.
The equation for the RFIC’s operating voltage U2 can be
derived by substituting Eqs. 3 and 1 into Eq. 2. This
substitution yields Eq. 4 Table 2 Material parameters of Flexible Printed Circuit Board
jωMii (FPCB)
U2 ¼ 2 þR2
ð4Þ
1 þ RL jωL
==ð1=jωC2 Þ Substrate Polyimide (PI)

Thickness of copper foil (μm) 35

2.2 RFIC circuit Resonant Frequency and Quality Factor Thickness of substrate (μm) 25.4
Dielectric constant at 1 MHz 3.8
Dissipation factor 0.012 at 1 MHz
In Fig. 2, the RFIC power source is the inductive voltage,
Maximum working temp. (°C) >300
U2. Increasing the coupling distance between the reader and
50 Biomed Microdevices (2008) 10:47–54

Fig. 3 Fabrication process of

the RFID wetness sensor on a
FPCB: (a) a FPCB with a
copper layer and a substrate
layer, (b) tag patterning on the
photoresist layer using a lithog-
raphy process, (c) removal of
copper using a wet etching
process, (d) removal of photo-
resist, (e) wire-bonding between
the RFID and the sensor wire,
and (f) packaging of the RFID
wetness sensor by adding bond-
ing gel and coating gel

2.3 Design of antenna and comb shape sensor
For transmitting the information stored in the RFIC through
an inductively coupling process, it is necessary to emit the
EM wave through a coil (antenna). The operation frequency
of wireless communication in this study is 13.56 MHz in
the ISM regulation. In this study, the RFIC chip (GT8160,
G-time Electronic Company) was made to serve as CMOS
RFID transponder IC that can operate in a frequency range
of 10 to 15 MHz frequency and it is optimized at an
operational frequency of 13.56 MHz.
The shape of the RFID sensor antenna is designed as an
octagon that surrounds a comb shape sensor. According to
Eq. 5, since the value of the capacitor built in the RFIC has
been determined, the inductance of the present antenna in
this study should have a value of about 4.8 μH to match the
capacitor of 28pF. Several different versions of the antenna
were designed according to the simulated results obtained
form the Zeland IE3D and Agilent ADS and fabricated on a
flexible substrate, each with a different width and spacing
of the copper wire. There are 15 turns in an octagonal
sensor antenna with an outer diameter of 2.7 cm. The width
of the antenna’s copper metal line is 300 μm, and the
spacing between copper lines is also 300 μm A comb shape
sensor was developed on the tag surrounded by the tag’s
antenna. In the sensing area, the width of the sensor’s metal
line is 300 μm and the spacing between the metal lines is
also 300 μm.
3 Sensor and RFIC antenna fabrication
All RFIC sensor fabrication procedures, including mask
design, lithography, wet etching, and wire-binding process-

Fig. 4 Prototype of the RFID

wetness sensor: (a) photograph
of the RFID wetness sensor after
adding bonding gel (black) and
coating gel (on coil) and (b)
SEM micrograph of micro coil
structures on the sensing area
Biomed Microdevices (2008) 10:47–54
Fig. 5 The bonding diagram that indicates the connections between
the RFIC and the pattern
es, were performed on a flexible printed circuit board (FPCB,
Taiflex Co., Ltd, Taiwan). The FPCB is formed by adhering
an electrodeposited copper foil to a flexible polymer film.
Table 2 presents the FPCB material parameters.
A flexible surface wetness sensor is fabricated using a
standard MEMS process, as Fig. 3 shows. In Fig. 3(b), a
layer of photoresist is coated and patterned on the FPCB
substrate using lithography processes. The copper antenna
and sensor on the FPCB were fabricated after the wet
etching process, as Fig. 3(c) illustrates. Figure 3(e) shows
the wire bonding between the RFID IC and wetness sensor.
After the wire bonding process, the RFID IC and the bare
copper antenna were protected from oxidation and dirt
using bonding gel (EMS Inc EN-7826, Silmore Co., Ltd.)
and coating gel (Dow corning 1-2577 conformal coating,
Dow corning cooperation), respectively, as shown in
Figs. 3(e)–(f). This entire fabrication process produces a
flexible surface wetness sensor capable of being used in
wireless biomedical microdevices.
As Fig. 4 shows, the shape of the RFIC antenna is an
octagon surrounding a comb-shaped sensor. There are 15
turns in an octagonal sensor antenna with an outer diameter
of 2.7 cm. The width of the antenna’s copper metal line is
300 μm, and the spacing between copper lines is also
300 μm. Figure 4 (b) shows the micrograph of the copper
coil.
Fig. 6 A binary coding of a RF
signal transmitted between the
RFIC and the reader used in the
present study
51
Five pads on the RFID IC chip must be wire bonded with
the sensor antenna, the sensing area, and the ground. Figure 5
shows the pin locations of these five pads, Vdd, Vss, RA, RB
and D1. One end of the comb-shaped sensor is connected to
the D1 pin and the other end is connected to the Vdd pad.
Once the sensor surface becomes wet, the D1 and Vdd pads
are on the same voltage level, which represents “1” in
binary logic. The RA and RB pads are connected to the two
terminals of the RFIC antenna to form a closed-loop
inductor, and the Vss pad is connected to the ground.
The binary logic of the RFIC for the Vdd is pulled to a
high level of “1” and that for the open data pin is pulled to a
low of “0”. Note that the comb-shaped sensing surface has
an open circuit. When the sensing surface gets wet, the
originally open circuit of the comb-shaped sensor becomes
a short circuit that is equivalent to resistance. The resistance
gives the RFIC data pin the same voltage level as the Vdd.
Hence, the RFIC binary logic of the data pin changes from
“0” to “1.” The alternation of this single bit can be used to
identify whether the surface of the comb-shaped sensor is
wet or dry.
A software program that can read data from a non-
contact data carrier (tag) or write data to a tag was installed
in a non-contact reader. The previous section introduced an
overview of the RFIC fabrication process, and this section
gives a brief introduction to the data measured by the RFID
reader.
Binary codes, ones and zeros, can be respectively
represented by the waveform’s line codes “0111” and
“0100” in the output signal. In the line codes, the high
and low voltages represent “1” and “0”, respectively.
Figure 6 shows the temporal RF signal transmitted between
the tag and the reader.
4 Results and discussions
The simulation results of the equivalent circuit are
calculated by using Agilent Advance Design System
2004A (Agilent ADS). Figure 7(a) shows that the schema-
tic view of the circuit of the RFIC sensor. With the Smart
52 Biomed Microdevices (2008) 10:47–54

Fig. 7 Simulation results of the

sensor circuit: (a) schematic
view of the equivalent circuit of
the RFIC sensor (b) the S21
simulation of sensor circuit

Simulation Wizard of ADS, the filter design mode is

employed for the spectrum analysis.
The frequency sweeps from 0.1 MHz to 30 MHz every
0.1 MHz. The minimum of the S21 curve shows that the
resonant frequency of the circuit is 13.56 MHz as shown in
Fig. 7(b). Based on Eq. 7, the Q-factor is around 10.05 for
the proposed RFID IC circuit at a resonant frequency of
13.56 MHz.
The simulated result S11 of the antenna is calculated by
using IE3D (Zeland Software, Inc). As shown in Fig. 8, the
curve has a minimum input reflection at the resonant
frequency. This means the sensor circuit absorbs the most
energy at this frequency.
Figure 9 shows a photo of the system measuring the RF
signal from the RFIC. The RFID reader was fabricated on
an FR4 board. The main components of the RFID reader Fig. 8 The simulated S11 of the antenna is obtained by using Zeland
include a transmitting coil (antenna), a stable quartz IE3D
Biomed Microdevices (2008) 10:47–54 53

Fig. 9 A schematic view of the

measuring system of the RF
signal transmitted from the
RFIC to the reader

oscillator at the frequency of 13.56 MHz, and an output pin proposed RFIC sensor has an operation frequency of
for receiving the RF signal. The reader is charged by a 5 V 13.56 MHz and a Q-factor of 10.05.
DC supplier and its output signal is observed in the form of The application related to care ailing elderly people in
voltage. this study is achieved. The transmitting range of the RF
The RFIC sensing surface was initially dry, and the
RFID wetness sensor was moved towards the reader slowly.
The RF signal of the sensor would change from dry to wet
when filter papers (Toyo Roshi Kaisha, Ltd) absorbing
enough water put on the sensor surface. The sensor also
indicated wetness when at least 3 μl of water were directly
placed on the sensing area of the sensor.
The measured waveform from the reader was observed
on the screen of an oscilloscope when the inductive
coupling occurred between the RFIC and the reader, as
Fig. 10(a) illustrates. To estimate the sensor is responsive-
ness when wrapped or covered, first a single layer and a
double layer of filter paper were placed over the sensor.
The surface condition of the sensor changed from dry to
wet as the single and double layers of filter paper absorbed
about 150 and 400 μl drop of water, respectively. It is
therefore sensitive enough to be suitable for application
related to caring for ailing elderly people. The response
time of the developed sensor was 20 μs when sufficient
water was placed on the filter paper covering the comb-
shaped sensing areas. Figure 10(b) shows the resulting
output data. Comparing Fig. 10(a) with Fig. 10(b) shows
that the D1 binary changed from “0” to “1” as the surface
condition of the sensor changed from dry to wet.

5 Conclusions

This study develops a flexible sensor for detecting surface

wetness and transmitting the detected signal using a RFID
technique. A MEMS process was employed to fabricate the
RFIC antenna and sensor on a FPCB substrate. The
Fig. 10 Waveforms of the RF signal received by the reader from the
sensor’s maximum dimensions are constrained by the RFIC RFIC at different surface conditions: (a) dry surface and (b) wet
antenna, of which the outer diameter is 2.7 cm. The surface
54
signal from the passive RFIC is about 15 cm. Therefore the
reader of the proposed system might be located under or
near the bed since they might lie in bed for long time.
Furthermore, to extend the transmitting range of the
proposed system, we integrated a transmitter using blue-
tooth technology into the presented RF signal reader. The
maximum transmitting range from the reader to the host can
therefore reach to 3 m.
The information transmitted from the RFIC was ob-
served on the oscilloscope screen, and only one bit in the
transmitted data string was altered as the sensor’s surface
condition changed from dry to wet. These measured results
show that the development of a remote RF wetness sensor
proved successful. The estimated fabrication cost of the
proposed RFID wetness sensor is less than 0.3 US dollars.
Biomed Microdevices (2008) 10:47–54
Acknowledgment We deeply appreciate the financial support of the
National Science Council of Taiwan, Republic of China under contract
number NSC 95-2212-E-002-216.
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