Patent ID: 8123929

Claim:
A method for determining a concentration of glucose in a sample, comprising the steps of: (a) transporting a body fluid sample of no more than about 500 nl into an electrochemical sensor comprising: (i) an electrode pair comprising a working electrode and a reference electrode or a counter electrode, wherein the working electrode and reference electrode or counter electrode are separated by a closest distance in a range of 25 to 1000 μm; (ii) a sample chamber comprising the working electrode and the reference electrode or counter electrode, wherein the sample chamber is sized to contain a volume of no more than about 500 nl of the sample; and (iii) an analyte-responsive enzyme and a redox mediator disposed in the sample chamber; (b) holding the sample in the sample chamber in a non-flow through manner; (c) generating a sensor signal at the working electrode within a measurement period of no greater than about 1 minute, wherein the background signal that is generated by electrolysis of a buffer solution comprising no glucose is no more than about 26% of the signal generated by electrolysis of a buffer solution comprising 6 mM glucose; and (d) determining by coulometry the concentration of the glucose using the sensor signal.