Department of Health Sciences, University "Magna Græcia" of Catanzaro, 88100 Catanzaro, Italy.
Department of Electrical Engineering, University of North Texas, Denton, TX 76203, USA.
Sensors (Basel). 2019 Mar 2;19(5):1063. doi: 10.3390/s19051063.
Extended-gate field-effect transistor (EGFET) is an electronic interface originally developed as a substitute for an ion-sensitive field-effect transistor (ISFET). Although the literature shows that commercial off-the-shelf components are widely used for biosensor fabrication, studies on electronic interfaces are still scarce (e.g., noise processes, scaling). Therefore, the incorporation of a custom EGFET can lead to biosensors with optimized performance. In this paper, the design and characterization of a transistor association (TA)-based EGFET was investigated. Prototypes were manufactured using a 130 nm standard complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) process and compared with devices presented in recent literature. A DC equivalence with the counterpart involving a single equivalent transistor was observed. Experimental results showed a power consumption of 24.99 mW at 1.2 V supply voltage with a minimum die area of 0.685 × 1.2 mm². The higher aspect ratio devices required a proportionally increased die area and power consumption. Conversely, the input-referred noise showed an opposite trend with a minimum of 176.4 nV over the 0.1 to 10 Hz frequency band for a higher aspect ratio. EGFET as a pH sensor presented further validation of the design with an average voltage sensitivity of 50.3 mV/pH, a maximum current sensitivity of 15.71 mA/pH, a linearity higher than 99.9%, and the possibility of operating at a lower noise level with a compact design and a low complexity.
扩展门场效应晶体管（EGFET）是一种电子接口，最初是作为离子敏场效应晶体管（ISFET）的替代品开发的。尽管文献表明商用现货（COTS）组件广泛用于生物传感器制造，但电子接口的研究仍然很少（例如，噪声过程、缩放）。因此，采用定制的 EGFET 可以实现具有优化性能的生物传感器。本文研究了基于晶体管关联（TA）的 EGFET 的设计和特性。使用 130nm 标准互补金属氧化物半导体（CMOS）工艺制造原型，并与最近文献中的器件进行比较。观察到与涉及单个等效晶体管的器件具有直流等效性。实验结果表明，在 1.2V 电源电压下，功率消耗为 24.99mW，最小裸片面积为 0.685×1.2mm²。更高的纵横比器件需要相应增加裸片面积和功率消耗。相反，输入参考噪声表现出相反的趋势，在 0.1 到 10Hz 的频率范围内，更高的纵横比下最小为 176.4nV。EGFET 作为 pH 传感器的进一步验证设计，平均电压灵敏度为 50.3mV/pH，最大电流灵敏度为 15.71mA/pH，线性度高于 99.9%，并且具有在较低噪声水平下工作的可能性，具有紧凑的设计和低复杂性。
