Simulating the bio-nano-CMOS interface

The integration of conventional CMOS device with biological systems has the potential to revolutionise the way that sensing devices are perceived. As semiconductor devices shrink towards the scale of biological macro-molecules, it becomes realistic to suppose that a direct connection can be made between the proteins which govern the majority of biological functions and CMOS semiconductors. The ability to monitor the behaviour of biological systems in vivo, in real time or to be able to monitor single molecule interactions, will be of massive benefit to the medical and pharmaceutical industries in the search for future drugs and therapies. Since the structure function relationships of biologically important proteins are currently poorly understood we have developed a simulation method, based on self-consistent Brownian dynamics, which is capable of simulating the trajectories of individual ions in complex simulation domains over biological relevant timescales. We aim to be able to simulate the interaction of ions in solution with semiconductor devices and we have used continuum drift diffusion simulation to demonstrate that it is possible to sense the position of individual ions using a double gate MOSFET.