Capacitor divided microcoil for MRI with high self-resonant frequency

Abstract

This paper reports on a capacitor divided microcoil as high sensitive MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging). A capacitor divided microcoil was fabricated by assembling 3D printed structures and planar coil wirings fabricated by MEMS (Micro Electro Mechanical Systems) technology. Since a capacitor was inserted into the coil wirings, this microcoil has high self-resonant frequency. The number of turns, diameter and length of the coil were 12, 12 mm and 16 mm, respectively. We also fabricated a non-divided microcoil without a capacitor for comparison. This non-divided microcoil is the same design value as the divided microcoil. The self-resonant frequency of the divided microcoil and the non-divided microcoil were 179 MHz and 156 MHz, respectively. We took MRI image of the cooking oil by the divided microcoil. SNR of the MRI image was 64. Since the capacitor divided microcoil has high self-resonant frequency, we acquired high sensitive MRI image.