Novel neuromorphic CMOS device array for biochemical charge sensing

Novel neuromorphic CMOS device is proposed as a biochemical charge sensor. The basic architecture of an extended floating-gate field-effect transistor (FET) is modified to be suited for large-array applications. The FET has a floating-gate that is umbrella-shaped (UGFET), maximizing its charge sensing area in a much reduced transistor area. Compared to previous chemoreceptive FET-based charge sensors, the UGFET shows improved scalability and sensitivity. 3-D device simulations validate the UGFET model. The design is fabricated in a standard CMOS process and characterized. Experimental results on biochemical charge sensing are presented employing the transconductance and subthreshold measurement schemes.