Are electrolyte-gated organic field-effect transistor the transducer of choice for biosensor applications?

Abstract

Organic field-effect transistors (OFETs) are highly promising candidates for chemical and biological sensing applications. Many organic semiconductor compounds are solution-processable at low temperatures on a variety of substrates, which allows for cost-effective fabrication methods, leading to smart (disposable) sensor tags in the field of health-, food- and environmental monitoring. Concerning the detection of ions or biological molecules in aqueous solutions, a water-stable operation of OFET sensor elements is crucial. Thus low voltage operation is a prerequisite. In this context electrolyte-gated OFETs (EGOFETs) seem to be the transducing devices of choice. Yet, many EGOFETs suffer from bias stress induced degradation of the organic semiconductor. In this contribution we will therefore benchmark EGOFETs as the transducing devices against other state of the art devices such as classical CMOS FETs implemented in an electrolyte-gated sensor configuration.