Design of biosensor array with current boost and signal conditioning circuits for HPV detection

Abstract

Cervical cancer is the major cancer affecting women and is growing at a very significant rate. One of the major challenges in treatment of cervical cancer is its detection in early stages. Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) infections are the major causes of cervical cancer that risks precancerous cell to cervical cancer cells. Gene-based DNA nanobiosensor is designed to capture the cancer specific antigen and helps in screening process of cancer patients. In this work, a nanobiosensor is designed using Carbon Nanotube Field Effect Transistor (CNTFET) and the signal conditioning circuits designed are interfaced with the sensor for amplifying the bio potential generated with the chemical reaction of the antigen with the antibody placed over the CNTFET channel. The sensor array is designed to have 64 cells that are configured into three categories such as core, periphery and middle sensors to increase the sensitivity of cell detection. Three reference voltages are generated from the current reference circuit for biasing the bottom gates of CNTFETs that produce maximum current due to the electro potential changes in the top gate. The corresponding voltages are further processed to detect the presence of analyte concentration and the sensitivity of the designed sensor array is found to be 130μA/V.