A 0.18 μm CMOS multilayer and low resistive load architecture dedicated for LoC applications

The main challenge of building appropriate bio-electronic devices dedicated to point-of-care treatment is implementing miniaturized, real-time and on-line monitoring, and low-power consumption systems. We propose such miniaturized device featuring a fully automated system that can open a new era for real-time health monitoring using a label-free technique. The proposed device, based on dielectrophoresis (DEP) techniques, can be extended to numerous other methods such as magnetophoresis, fluorescence or antibody marking. Artificial cerebrospinal fluid and deionized water with particle diameter varying from 0.5 μm to 4.1 μm were used to test the prototype. This first low-voltage DEP-Based completely integrated device was able to separate different particles based on their DEP crossover frequency below 1.25 MHz using a very low-supply voltage (2.4 V) where the crossover frequency reflects the change of DEP effect from attraction to repulsion.