Nano-plasmonics and electronics co-integration in CMOS enabling a pill-sized multiplexed fluorescence microarray...

Area of Science:

• Biotechnology
• Nanotechnology
• Optical Engineering
• Electrical Engineering

Background:

• Existing fluorescence-based bio-molecular sensing systems are often bulky, relying on traditional optical components.
• Miniaturization efforts have focused on packaging, not fundamental integration of optical and electronic elements.
• There is a need for ultra-miniaturized, highly sensitive, and portable sensing systems for in-vitro and in-vivo applications.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a chip-scale, optics-free, massively multiplexed fluorescence sensing system.
• To co-integrate nano-plasmonic optical elements with electronic circuitry on a single chip.
• To achieve high sensitivity and specificity for detecting proteins and nucleic acids.

Main Methods:

• Co-integration of nano-plasmonic multi-functional optical elements and electronic processing circuitry.
• Utilizing a complementary-metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) foundry process without fabrication changes.
• Implementation of nano-waveguide based filters and sub-wavelength surface plasmon polariton modes within CMOS.

Main Results:

• Demonstrated the first optics-free 96-sensor CMOS fluorescence sensing system.
• Achieved angle-insensitive filtering in uncollimated and scattering environments.
• Showcased zeptomole surface sensitivity for quantum dot labels and femtomolar/picomolar volume sensitivities for nucleic acids and proteins, respectively.

Conclusions:

• Successfully integrated multi-functional nano-optical structures and complex electronics into a commercial CMOS process.
• The developed chip-scale system offers performance comparable to or better than commercial fluorescence readers.
• This technology enables a new class of miniaturized, scalable, chip-sized optical sensors with transformative potential.