Sciospec stands for Electrical Impedance at its Best. Electrical Impedance Spectroscopy has been our core technology ever since. In the past years we have developed a scalable and flexible technology plaform that allows for precise, customizable, yet cost-effective lab-bench impedance analyzers. Choose between our three standard instruments, add some powerful options and enjoy an impedance analyzer that perfectly fits for your application. Class leading performance and unrivaled flexibility - Sciospec impedance analyzers.
Our Impedance Analyzers
scalable impedance analyzer with medical grade safety features
Get to know our scalable ISX-3 platform
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Get to know the ISX-3 mini
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Get to know our scalable ISX-5 platform
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Still not the perfect fit for your application? Then let’s custom-tailor it for you!
Our modular platform allows for cost-efficient customization while keeping the development risk low. So what will you need? An application specific multiplexing solution, a ready-to-go portable device for mobile health or a massive multichannel platform for a screening application? Just get in touch with us!
Relevant publications
When measuring complex impedance, the required measurement setup can be divided into four different components:
Different combinations and parameterization of these components make up the overall impedance measurement setups and some of them are so commonly used, that they are integrated in different classes of instruments. The most common instrument types to measure complex impedance are:
Sciospec offers a broad range of solutions for impedance measurement spanning most of these classes.
When measuring electrical impedance main specifications are frequency and impedance measurement ranges, accuracy, speed and points per sweep. Just as important are requirements of the test setup like 2, 3 or 4 electrode configuration, bias control and scalability – when it comes to multichannel or high throughput problems. Since most applications of impedance analyzers require special care contacting a “device under test” (biochips, skin electrodes, special preamplifiers etc.) the interface and extension possibilities of the instruments are also to be considered. Looking at instruments for impedance spectroscopy it is essential to look deeper than just the plain key specification from a product summary. Accuracy and speed both are at least dependent on frequency and absolute value of the measured impedance. Most manufacturers will specify across a very large range of impedances and frequencies, but a closer look into the datasheet will reveal that only certain range are covered in full accuracy. The distribution of them strongly varies across instruments. Thus, it is important to look at the accuracy-contour plots (see example below) showing which accuracy can be obtained at what absolute value and frequency. For a detailed comparison of specifications for the most widely used impedance analyzers on the market, check out this article.
The best solution for broad measurement range, large frequency spans and high-resolution impedance spectroscopy without a doubt are dedicated precision impedance analyzers. Entirely dedicated to impedance measurement Sciospec offers a range of standard lab products and OEM solutions. The Sciospec ISX-3 can be considered the go-to solution and work horse for the majority of scenarios requiring and impedance analyzer. Although Sciospec offers a broad range of impedance measurement instruments, it is worth to take a look at the ISX-3 to get an overview of technical capabilities associated with impedance spectroscopy. It is a small form factor lab bench single channel impedance analyzer supporting 2, 3 and 4 electrode configurations. The default range spans from 100 µHz to 10 MHz (optional extension up to 100 MHz) and 1 mΩ to 1 TΩ. Basic accuracy of 0.01% is available between 1 Ω and 1 GΩ up to 2MHz. Very fast measurements can be achieved with a minimum of 300 µs for f>500 kHz. For high-resolution spectra the instrument supports up to 2048 points per sweep. Next to default coaxial measurement ports the instrument also includes a general-purpose extension port for application specific impedance measurement frontends and modules like Sciospec`s multiplexers or sensor adapters. The port´s specifications and interface are open access enabling users to build their own application specific modules like adapters, multiplexers, fluidic chambers, amplifiers etc. USB, Ethernet or optional wireless interface as high-level interfaces. Additionally low level isolated I/O, serial interfaces and fast hardware synchronization are available for fine grained instruments control. There are many measurement adapters for all sorts of impedance measurement applications and industry standard impedance sensor formats. For even more versatility in impedance measurements, flexible multiplexing solutions and an impedance tomography mode can be added. There is also a medical research version of the ISX-3 that comes with added medical safety features.
Building on the class leading capabilities of the ISX-3 impedance analyzer, the Sciospec ISX-5 is a highly scalable multichannel impedance analyser. It uses the same measurement modules as the ISX-3 but can be extended to 16 fully parallel operating channels. On top of that each of these impedance measurement modules can be extended with all other options we find on the ISX-3. Adding Sciospec´s extremely flexible multiplexer modules to the mix allows for having up to 256 multiplexed ports per module, resulting in a mind blowing 16×256= 4096 impedance measurement ports on a single instrument (refer to the Sciospec multiplexer product page to learn more about the stunning flexibility for multichannel impedance measurement).
Leveraging the full power of Sciospec´s technology platform there are many more options to choose from when it comes to selecting an impedance analyzer. A good example of this is the Sciospec CSX-64 – a 64-channel impedance measurement system with 8 simultaneously acquired channels and any to any channel mapping. It was designed to be the all-in-one solution for chip-based multichannel impedance measurements. With its highly integrated edge card connector interface it’s the perfect fit for impedance based biosensors – they can be either plugged in directly into the ultra-compact low profile system or through a cable adapter. The CSX-64 comes with 8 banks with eight parallel measuring channels each. This enables both fast EIS measurements and more advanced modes like EIT in one highly versatile impedance analyzer.
For more specialized applications it is best to design a specific measurement setup. A good example for this: Electrical impedance analysis is a common technique for the readout of biosensing solutions. While there are countless biosensors employing impedance spectroscopy, one class is particularly interesting and challenging – cell based impedance assays. This typically includes living cells cultivated in-vitro in some form of fluidic chamber with electrodes being dropped into the fluidic volume or as part of the chamber’s surfaces. The most important specific challenges for the measurements in this type of application are sensor contacting, cultivation environment requirements, low signal amplitudes for minimization of biological impact and channel count. Oftentimes these systems require the sensors to reside in an incubator during measurements. This can be a very specific challenge: high quality, low noise impedance measurements require low parasitics and noise coupling – best achieved with the measurement frontends sitting as close to the sensor as possible. Electronics will however inject heat due to their inherent power dissipation and this heat can have a very drastic impact on cell cultures. In very sensitive models often found in organ on chip application deviating as little as 0.2 Kelvin from the target temperature can already be too much. Another application specific challenge comes with the high channel count requirements. Typical assays will range from as little as eight electrodes (e.g. found in Applied Biophyics ECIS sensors) to 96 well ANSI microplates (e.g. found on the Nanion Cardioexcyte 96 system). Other formfactor sensor arrangements include transwell systems like the NanoAnalytics CellZcope with 24 up to 96 channels or the Mimetas OrganoTEER system for the gel based microfluidic organ-on-chip OrganoPlate assays. There are however also systems demonstrating that far more channels in a single sensor plate like the 512 channel Sciospec PCOR or EPIX systems. A good compromise between simultaneous read out channels and multiplexing, form factor and incubation requirements, measurement bandwidth and heat injection and many more criteria is essential for good results in these scenarios. As the number one address for impedance measurement solutions, Sciospec is proud to work with the world leading companies for impedance based cellular assays. Our technology is powering systems like the Mimetas OrganoTEER, the Nanion Cardioexcyte and AtlaZ, the NanoAnalytics CellZcope3 and many more.
Still not the perfect fit for your application?
Then let’s custom-tailor it for you!
Our modular plaform allows for cost-efficient customization while keeping the development risk low. So what will you need? An application specific multiplexing solution, a ready-to-go portable device for mobile health or a massive multichannel platform for a screening application? Just get in touch with us!
Get in touch with us
+49 3425 88399 00
info@www.sciospec.com
Sciospec Scientific Instruments GmbH
Leipziger Str. 43b, 04828 Bennewitz, Germany
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