Development of an Ion Sensitive Field Effect Transistor Based Urea Biosensor with Solid State Reference Systems

Ion sensitive field-effect transistor (ISFET) based urease biosensors with solid state reference systems for single-ended and two-ended differential readout electronics were investigated. The sensing membranes of the biosensors were fabricated with urease immobilized in a conducting polymer-based matrix. The responses of 12.9∼198.1 mV for the urea concentrations of 8∼240 mg/dL reveal that the activity of the enzyme was not significantly decreased. Biosensors combined with solid state reference systems were fabricated, and the evaluation results demonstrated the feasibility of miniaturization. For the differential system, the optimal transconductance match for biosensor and reference field-effect transistors (REFET) pair was determined through the modification of the membranes of the REFETs and enzyme field-effect transistors (EnFETs). The results show that the transconductance curve of polymer based REFET can match with that of the EnFET by adjusting the photoresist/Nafion™ ratio. The match of the transconductance curves for the differential pairs provides a wide dynamic operating measurement range. Accordingly, the miniaturized quasi-reference electrode (QRE)/REFET/EnFET combination with differential arrangement achieved similar urea response curves as those measured by a conventional large sized discrete sensor.