Peter M Levine

US Patent:

20100300899, Dec 2, 2010

Filed:

Jun 21, 2010

Appl. No.:

12/819720

Inventors:

Peter M. Levine - Hamden CT, US
Kenneth L. Shepard - Ossining NY, US
Ping Gong - Elmhurst NY, US

Assignee:

THE TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK - New York NY

International Classification:

G01N 27/26
G01N 27/28
H01L 21/30

US Classification:

205792, 20440301, 438 49, 257E21211

Abstract:

Electrochemical sensing of biomolecules eliminates the need for bulky optical instruments required in traditional fluorescence-based sensing assays. Integration of the sensor interface electrodes and active electrochemical detection circuitry on CMOS substrates miniaturizes the sensing platform, enhancing portability for point-of-care applications, while enabling high-throughput, highly-parallel analysis. One embodiment includes a four-by-four active sensor array for multiplexed electrochemical biomolecular detection in a standard 0.25-μm CMOS process. Integrated potentiostats, including control amplifiers and dual-slope ADCs, stimulate the electrochemical cell and detect the current flowing through on-chip gold electrodes at each sensor site resulting from biomolecular reactions occurring on the chip surface. Post-processing techniques for fabricating biologically-compatible surface-electrode arrays in CMOS that can withstand operation in harsh electrochemical environments are described. Demonstrations showing example operation of the active CMOS array for biomolecular detection include cyclic voltammetry of a reversible redox species, DNA probe density characterization, and quantitative and specific DNA hybridization detection in real time.