A Hybrid Microfluidic Electronic Sensing Platform for Life Science Applications.

Abbas Panahi,Ebrahim Ghafar-Zadeh

doi:10.3390/mi13030425

Abstract

This paper presents a novel hybrid microfluidic electronic sensing platform, featuring an electronic sensor incorporated with a microfluidic structure for life science applications. This sensor with a large sensing area of 0.7 mm2 is implemented through a foundry process called Open-Gate Junction FET (OG-JFET). The proposed OG-JFET sensor with a back gate enables the charge by directly introducing the biological and chemical samples on the top of the device. This paper puts forward the design and implementation of a PDMS microfluidic structure integrated with an OG-JFET chip to direct the samples toward the sensing site. At the same time, the sensor’s gain is controlled with a back gate electrical voltage. Herein, we demonstrate and discuss the functionality and applicability of the proposed sensing platform using a chemical solution with different pH values. Additionally, we introduce a mathematical model to describe the charge sensitivity of the OG-JFET sensor. Based on the results, the maximum value of transconductance gain of the sensor is ~1 mA/V at Vgs = 0, which is decreased to ~0.42 mA/V at Vgs = 1, all in Vds = 5. Furthermore, the variation of the back-gate voltage from 1.0 V to 0.0 V increases the sensitivity from ~40 mV/pH to ~55 mV/pH. As per the experimental and simulation results and discussions in this paper, the proposed hybrid microfluidic OG-JFET sensor is a reliable and high-precision measurement platform for various life science and industrial applications.

Highlights

Electrochemical sensors are being used in various applications, such as the food industry, pharmaceutical, oil and gas, environmental monitoring and biomedical engineering [1–4]
A well-established member of electrochemical sensors, the so-called ion-sensitive field-effect transistor (ISFET) sensors have been utilized in different applications for ion/charge detection in chemical solutions
This research explains the integration of Open-Gate Junction FET (OG-JFET) sensor to 3D printed PDMS-based microfluidics for biosensing applications

Summary

Introduction

Electrochemical sensors are being used in various applications, such as the food industry, pharmaceutical, oil and gas, environmental monitoring and biomedical engineering [1–4]. These sensors promise faster and more sensitive techniques for detecting diseases and hazardous materials [5,6]. Many efforts have been made to develop ISFETs based on technologically flawless silicon-based complementary metal-oxide semiconductors (CMOS) technology, resulting in different sensing structures and topologies [4] offering high-yield productions. They have been successfully verified to detect various diseases, such as malaria, influenza, hepatitis B virus, COVID-19 disease and bacteria-based diseases [4,11]. Immobilizing the surface of ISFETs with different biomolecules gives rise to biological FETs (BioFETs), which could be GEN

Results

Discussion

Conclusion