On-chip Operational Amplifier Research Articles

Multifunctional Platform with CMOS-Compatible Tungsten Microhotplate for Pirani, Temperature, and Gas Sensor

A multifunctional platform based on the microhotplate was developed for applications including a Pirani vacuum gauge, temperature, and gas sensor. It consisted of a tungsten microhotplate and an on-chip operational amplifier. The platform was fabricated in a standard complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) process. A tungsten plug in standard CMOS process was specially designed as the serpentine resistor for the microhotplate, acting as both heater and thermister. With the sacrificial layer technology, the microhotplate was suspended over the silicon substrate with a 340 nm gap. The on-chip operational amplifier provided a bias current for the microhotplate. This platform has been used to develop different kinds of sensors. The first one was a Pirani vacuum gauge ranging from 1-1 to 105 Pa. The second one was a temperature sensor ranging from -20 to 70 °C. The third one was a thermal-conductivity gas sensor, which could distinguish gases with different thermal conductivities in constant gas pressure and environment temperature. In the fourth application, with extra fabrication processes including the deposition of gas-sensitive film, the platform was used as a metal-oxide gas sensor for the detection of gas concentration.

Compact Electrochemical System Using On-Chip Sensor Electrodes and Integrated Devices

We report a compact electrochemical sensing system to implement cyclic voltammetry. This type of sensor needs a working electrode, counter electrode, and reference electrode, all of which were integrated on a single chip. The electrochemical system also needs a potentiostat and an input voltage-generating circuit, which were developed using on-chip active devices and a few discrete passive components. This is the first sensor system incorporating electrode-side input voltage generation for electrochemical measurements using an on-chip operational amplifier, which replaces a bulky external voltage controller. A continuous cyclic voltammetry measurement was conducted with a well-studied ferricyanide solution to demonstrate the operation of the intelligent sensor chip. A clear peak was observed and linearity to the target chemical concentration was obtained between the peak height and concentration of the ferricyanide solution. With potential for mass production and small size, this sensor chip could be the best candidate to realize point-of-care testing. This sensor chip is a milestone of a fully integrated electrochemical sensor chip.

Operational Amplifier Based Test Structure for Quantifying Transistor Threshold Voltage Variation

A new test structure has been developed, which is comprised of MOSFET arrays and an on-chip operational amplifier feedback loop for measuring threshold voltage variation. The test structure also includes an on-chip clock generator and address decoders to scan through the arrays. It can be used in an inline test environment to provide rapid assessment of Vt variation for technology development and chip manufacturing. Hardware results in a 65-nm technology are presented. The significance of the bias dependence of Vt variation is discussed for SRAM product designs.

A monolithic CMOS microhotplate-based gas sensor system

A monolithic CMOS microhotplate-based conductance-type gas sensor system is described. A bulk micromachining technique is used to create suspended microhotplate structures that serve as sensing film platforms. The thermal properties of the microhotplates include a 1-ms thermal time constant and a 10/spl deg/C/mW thermal efficiency. The polysilicon used for the microhotplate heater exhibits a temperature coefficient of resistance of 1.067/spl times/10/sup -3///spl deg/C. Tin(IV) oxide and titanium(IV) oxide (SnO/sub 2/,TiO/sub 2/) sensing films are grown over postpatterned gold sensing electrodes on the microhotplate using low-pressure chemical vapor deposition (LPCVD). An array of microhotplate gas sensors with different sensing film properties is fabricated by using a different temperature for each microhotplate during the LPCVD film growth process. Interface circuits are designed and implemented monolithically with the array of microhotplate gas sensors. Bipolar transistors are found to be a good choice for the heater drivers, and MOSFET switches are suitable for addressing the sensing films. An on-chip operational amplifier improves the signal-to-noise ratio and produces a robust output signal. Isothermal responses demonstrate the ability of the sensors to detect different gas molecules over a wide range of concentrations including detection below 100 nanomoles/mole.

A monolithic patch-clamping amplifier with capacitive feedback

Patch-clamping is an established method for directly measuring ionic transport through cellular membranes with sufficient resolution to observe open/close transitions of individual channel molecules. This paper describes an alternative technique for patch-clamping which uses a capacitor as the transimpedance element. This approach eliminates bandwidth and saturation limitations experienced with resistive patch-clamping amplifiers. A complete monolithic design featuring an on-chip operational amplifier, a capacitor array with gain-ranging from 30 pF down to 0.03 pF, and reset and gain ranging switches has been fabricated using 5 μm CMOS technology. It is shown that the voltage noise of the CMOS operational amplifier limits the overall noise performance, but that performance competitive with conventional instruments can be achieved over a 10 kHz bandwidth, at least for small input capacitances (≤ 5 pF). Results are presented along with an analysis and comparison of noise performance using both resistive and capacitive elements.

Self-contained charge-coupled split-electrode filters using a novel sensing technique

Self-contained single-chip charge-coupled split-electrode filters with 55 taps and a novel channel structure have been built with a double-level polysilicon NMOS process. Operating at a sample rate of 32 kHz, these devices provide a low-pass filter function with a passband from 0 to 3.2 kHz and a stopband above 4 kHz. The image charge on the sense electrodes is detected with a novel sensing circuit employing two on-chip operational amplifiers, one of which suppresses the common-mode signal on the two sense buses while the other one integrates the difference signal. In addition, the chips carry antialiasing prefilters, a correlated double sample-and-hold circuit to minimize reset noise and to restore the output signal, and all the necessary peripheral logic and biasing circuitry so that the devices can be operated from a single master clock and two power supplies of +12 and -5 V, respectively.