Dielectrophoretic-Assisted Biosensor for Single-Cell Characterization at Mmwave Frequencies in CMOS 28nm Technology

In this work an on-chip solution for integrating Dielectrophoretic (DEP) single cell manipulation and mmWave permittivity sensing in a low-voltage (0.9V/1.8V) 28 nm bulk CMOS technology is presented. A novel driver circuit is introduced for the generation of high-voltages (up to 6V) across the DEP electrodes to create strong electric fields (~10
⁵
V/m) for single cell manipulation. Successful integration of high voltage operation DEP electrodes with mmWave sensors, operating at 110 GHz is demonstrated. A packaging technique for integrating microfluidics with positive DEP (pDEP) on the chip for precise sample positioning and therefore optimal sensing is presented.