Bio-integrated μBots with Overtone Ultra-Wideband Magnetoelectric Antennas for Wireless Telemetry
Published: 1 November 2026
A breakthrough fingertip-sized antenna developed at JWNC enables high-speed wireless transmission of biomedical data, paving the way for smarter implantable and wearable healthcare technologies.
JWNC Chris Wilkinson Award: Bio-integrated μBots with Magnetoelectric Antennas
Developed and fabricated at the University of Glasgow's James Watt Nanofabrication Centre (JWNC), this patent-pending development delivers fingertip-scale, overtone-based ultra-wideband magnetoelectric antennas for wireless telemetry in implantable and wearable systems. The work addresses a central bottleneck in bio-integrated electronics: conventional miniaturised antennas usually become narrowband and inefficient in tissue. Here, the device uses higher-order acoustic overtones, coupled to a nanofabricated aluminium nitride/iron-gallium heterostructure, to create multiple usable transmission windows rather than one narrow resonance. This architecture provides an overall usable bandwidth of approximately 22.6 GHz, currently operating in the 3-4 GHz range, and can be adjusted based on user needs.
The central JWNC contribution is the nanofabrication workflow. RF sputtering was used to deposit both the piezoelectric and ferromagnetic layers, with co-doping and layer-thickness control to tune crystal texture, strain transfer, and magnetic response, alongside in situ Argon etching. Electron-beam evaporation formed the metal contacts, while thick-resist lift-off defined the microscale electrode geometry. Atomic force microscopy and scanning electron microscopy provided rapid feedback on film quality, surface roughness and grain structure. Together, these JWNC processes enabled the material stack, device dimensions, and acoustic response to be engineered within a single controlled cleanroom workflow.
The impact is a compact, scalable antenna platform that can transmit high-bandwidth physiological data without the retuning typically required for narrowband implants. As shown in Fig. 1B, the antenna is small enough to sit on a fingertip, and ex vivo tissue tests preserve reproducible operating windows near 3.3 and 3.9 GHz, guiding future in-body channel selection. The video demonstration provides the practical context: a sonogram video with heartbeat audio streamed at 3.25 GHz, showing that a JWNC-fabricated microscale antenna can carry real biomedical data using existing software-defined radio hardware. Initial 7T magnetic resonance imaging studies show only localised artefacts, supporting compatibility with clinical workflows. The technology is patent-pending, and the full study can be viewed at https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.aec7011.
Fig. 1. JWNC-enabled magnetoelectric µBot. (A) Bio-integrated telemetry concept. (B) Fingertip-scale antenna, showing device size. (C) Nanofabricated stack made using RF sputtering, co-doping, electron-beam evaporated contacts and thick-resist lift-off (D) Software-defined-radio video telemetry demonstration. (E) 7 T magnetic resonance imaging phantom assessment.
First published: 1 November 2026