Digital Biosensing By Foundry-Fabricated Graphene Sensors

TL;DR

This paper presents the first scalable manufacturing of graphene-based digital biosensors in a commercial foundry, enabling low-cost, portable, and precise biological and environmental testing without complex reagents.

Contribution

It demonstrates the integration of delicate graphene into standard high-volume production processes, achieving scalable manufacturing of digital biosensors.

Findings

Successful integration of graphene into commercial manufacturing processes.

Biosensors provide precise data with low reagent and power requirements.

Potential for portable, low-cost biological and environmental testing.

Abstract

Biomedical and environmental testing currently require access to highly specialized facilities or extensive training. Current biochemical tests require complex reagents to achieve a simple human readable result such as a color change. This results in low-information tests, with high reagent costs. To maximize information from testing while minimizing costs, biotechnology should leverage complex analysis enabled by advanced portable computing power and use simplified reagents. Nanotechnologists have created proof-of-concept devices to move diagnosis and monitoring from large core labs to hand-held, easy-to-use personal devices, but none have achieved large-scale manufacturability. We demonstrate the first economical nanoelectronics produced in a commercial foundry. The mass-manufacture of these graphene-based digital biosensors is achieved by successfully integrating delicate graphene material into standard electronic high-volume production processes. We describe critical manufacturing parameters and the results of biosensing measurements that establish graphene biosensors as a portable, low-cost method to gain precise data without labeled, complex reagents. The low power and resource usage of these biosensors enable individuals to gain personal, immediate control over precise biological and environmental data.