A Scalable CMOS Molecular Electronics Chip for Single-Molecule Biosensing

IEEE Trans Biomed Circuits Syst. 2022 Dec;16(6):1030-1043. doi: 10.1109/TBCAS.2022.3211420. Epub 2023 Feb 14.

Abstract

This work reports the first CMOS molecular electronics chip. It is configured as a biosensor, where the primary sensing element is a single molecule "molecular wire" consisting of a ∼100 GΩ, 25 nm long alpha-helical peptide integrated into a current monitoring circuit. The engineered peptide contains a central conjugation site for attachment of various probe molecules, such as DNA, proteins, enzymes, or antibodies, which program the biosensor to detect interactions with a specific target molecule. The current through the molecular wire under a dc applied voltage is monitored with millisecond temporal resolution. The detected signals are millisecond-scale, picoampere current pulses generated by each transient probe-target molecular interaction. Implemented in a 0.18 μm CMOS technology, 16k sensors are arrayed with a 20 μm pitch and read out at a 1 kHz frame rate. The resulting biosensor chip provides direct, real-time observation of the single-molecule interaction kinetics, unlike classical biosensors that measure ensemble averages of such events. This molecular electronics chip provides a platform for putting molecular biosensing "on-chip" to bring the power of semiconductor chips to diverse applications in biological research, diagnostics, sequencing, proteomics, drug discovery, and environmental monitoring.

Publication types

  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Biosensing Techniques* / methods
  • DNA / chemistry
  • Electronics*
  • Nanotechnology
  • Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis
  • Semiconductors

Substances

  • DNA