Circuits and Systems for Electrical Detection in Nano-Bio-Electrochemistry

Marco Carminati, Department of Electronics and Information Science, Politecnico di Milano, Italy

Abstract: Convergence of microelectronics with biology and nanotechnology is currently an exciting reality and a very fertile research area. Within such a broad context, in this talk I will illustrate some efforts to extend the use of current and impedance measurements in the nanoscale molecular domain, with particular focus on bio-electrochemistry and biosensors. Novel circuital topologies and ad-hoc systems have been proposed and realized for addressing the so far unmet sensitivity requirements, posed by sub-micrometric sensing interfaces. The most significant experimental results will be shown: sub-pA current sensitivity and sub-attoFarad capacitance resolution, with an extended DC-1MHz bandwidth, pivotal for direct electrical sensing of the properties of nanoscale electrochemical bio-interfaces. In conclusion, some issues concerning the integration of CMOS smart sensing chips with microfluidic technology will be discussed.

About the speaker: Marco Carminati was born in 1981 in Milan, Italy. He received B. Sc. and M. Sc. in Electronic Engineering, both cum laude from the Politecnico di Milano, in 2003 and 2005 respectively. He is currently a post-doctoral fellow at the Dept. Electronics and Information Science of Politecnico di Milano (Prof. M. Sampietro’s group), where he has completed his PhD in the last three years. In 2008 he spent a semester at MIT with a “Progetto Rocca” Fellowship in Prof. J. Voldman’s group, working on BioMEMS and microfluidic dielectrophoretic devices. His main interests include low-noise analog design, data acquisition and elaboration systems, instrumentation and sensors.