Sensor for biomolecules
AssigneeInternational Business Machines Corporation
InventorsMarwan H. Khater, Tak H. Ning, Lidija Sekaric, Sufi Zafar
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Abstract
A method for sensing biomolecules in an electrolyte includes exposing a gate dielectric surface of a sensor comprising a silicon fin to the electrolyte, wherein the gate dielectric surface comprises a dielectric material and antibodies configured to bind with the biomolecules; applying a gate voltage to an electrode immersed in the electrolyte; and measuring a change in a drain current flowing in the silicon fin; and determining an amount of the biomolecules that are present in the electrolyte based on the change in the drain current.
Claims14
A method for sensing biomolecules in an electrolyte, the method comprising:
- exposing a gate dielectric surface of a sensor comprising a plurality of silicon fins to the electrolyte, wherein the gate dielectric surface comprises a dielectric material that substantially covers an upper surface of the sensor and antibodies configured to bind with the biomolecules;
- applying a gate voltage to an electrode immersed in the electrolyte;
- and
- measuring a change in a drain current flowing in one or more of the plurality of the silicon fins;
- and
- determining an amount of the biomolecules that are present in the electrolyte based on the change in the drain current;
- wherein the sensor comprises a plurality of fin field effect transistors (finFETs), each of the plurality of silicon fins comprises a channel of each of the plurality of the finFETs and a planar field effect transistor (FET) located between two adjacent silicon fins, the planer FET having a width approximately equal to a distance separating the adjacent silicon fins, wherein the width of the planar FET is approximately 5% to 20% larger than a diameter of the biomolecules to be sensed.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.