ISSCC 2010 / SESSION 27 / DIRECTIONS IN HEALTH , ENERGY & RF / 27 . 2 27 . 2 Palm NMR and One - Chip NMR

Nuclear magnetic resonance, or NMR, is the energy exchange between an RF magnetic field and an atomic nucleus such as a hydrogen proton, which is a tiny bar magnet due to its spin. NMR has a broad array of powerful applications, including: biomolecule sensing (e.g., cancer marker detection), medical imaging, and oil detection. NMR instruments, however, are bulky, heavy, and expensive, and remain as specialized equipment in hospitals, industry, and laboratories. An NMR system consists of a magnet, a sample coil, and an RF transceiver, where the magnet is by far the largest component. As a larger-sized magnet yields a stronger NMR signal even for the same field strength, large magnets are used, hence the bulky size.