Cantilever-Based Biosensors in CMOS Technology

TL;DR

This paper presents CMOS-based biosensors with integrated microcantilevers for detecting specific analytes, utilizing changes in mechanical properties to enable sensitive, autonomous detection with high signal-to-noise ratio.

Contribution

It introduces a monolithically integrated CMOS biosensor platform with microcantilevers for specific analyte detection, combining mechanical sensing with integrated readout.

Findings

High signal-to-noise ratio achieved

Effective detection of proteins and DNA

Autonomous operation demonstrated

Abstract

Single-chip CMOS-based biosensors that feature microcantilevers as transducer elements are presented. The cantilevers are functionalized for the capturing of specific analytes, e.g., proteins or DNA. The binding of the analyte changes the mechanical properties of the cantilevers such as surface stress and resonant frequency, which can be detected by an integrated Wheatstone bridge. The monolithic integrated readout allows for a high signal-to-noise ratio, lowers the sensitivity to external interference and enables autonomous device operation.