Towards Fully Integrated Wireless Impedimetric Sensors

We report on the design and characterization of the building blocks of a single-chip wireless chemical sensor fabricated with a commercial complementary metal-oxide-silicon (CMOS) technology, which includes two types of transducers for impedimetric measurements (4-electrode array and two interdigitated electrodes), instrumentation circuits, and a metal coil and circuits for inductive power and data transfer. The electrodes have been formed with a polycrystalline silicon layer of the technology by a simple post-process that does not require additional deposition or lithography steps, but just etching steps. A linear response to both conductivity and permittivity of solutions has been obtained. Wireless communication of the sensor chip with a readout unit has been demonstrated. The design of the chip was prepared for individual block characterization and not for full system characterization. The integration of chemical transducers within monolithic wireless platforms will lead to smaller, cheaper, and more reliable chemical microsensors, and will open up the door to numerous new applications where liquid mediums that are enclosed in sealed receptacles have to be measured.