BioFET system
AssigneeTaiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.
InventorsYu-Jie Huang, Jui-Cheng Huang
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A bio-field effect transistor (bioFET) system includes a bioFET configured to receive to a first voltage signal and output a current signal, where the current signal varies exponentially with respect to the first voltage signal. A logarithmic current-to-time converter is connected to the bioFET and is configured to receive the current signal and convert the current signal to a time domain signal. The time domain signal varies logarithmically with respect to the current signal, such that the time domain signal varies linearly with respect to the first voltage signal.
Claims20
A bio-field effect transistor (bioFET) system comprising:
- a bioFET configured to output a current signal;
- a current-to-time converter circuit configured to generate, based on the current signal, a voltage signal that decreases to provide a discharge time of the voltage signal during a discharging phase;
- and
- a time-to-digital converter that provides a count value for the discharge time of the voltage signal during the discharging phase.
A bio-field effect transistor (bioFET) system comprising:
- a bioFET configured to output a current signal;
- a current-to-time converter circuit having an input terminal to receive the current signal and an output terminal to output a voltage signal that is generated based on the current signal, the voltage signal decreases through a resistor and switch connected between the output terminal and the input terminal to provide a discharge time of the voltage signal during a discharging phase;
- and
- a time-to-digital converter that provides a count value for the discharge time of the voltage signal during the discharging phase.
A method for operating a bio-field effect transistor (bioFET) system comprising:
- outputting a current signal from a bioFET;
- converting the current signal to a time domain signal by generating, based on the current signal, a voltage signal that increases during a charging phase, and discharges during a discharging phase;
- and
- converting the time domain signal to a digital signal by generating a count value for a discharge time of the voltage signal during the discharging phase.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.