Ecole Polytechnique Federale De Lausanne

Ecole Polytechnique Féderale De Lausanne (epfl)

Xsensio Sa

Mihai Adrian Ionescu

Nilay Dagtekin

Francesco Bellando

Hoël Guerin

Erick García Cordero

Cem Alper

Fabien Patrick Wildhaber

Hoël Maxime Guérin

Johan Frédéric Longo

Erick Garcia Cordero

Teodor Rosca

Junrui Zhang

Livio Lattanzio

Daniel Grogg

Sheibani Shokoofeh

Luca De Michielis

Arnab Biswas

Sebastian Thimotee Bartsch

Ali Saeidi

Ji Cao

The present disclosure concerns a Field-Effect Transistor device or sensor comprising at least one drain region, at least one source region, at least a channel region, at least a first gate connected to the channel region, at least one stack comprising at least one metal layer or metal extension and at least one via layer or via extension; or a plurality of alternating (i) metal layers or metal extensions and (ii) via layers or via extensions, at least one second gate or second layer connected to the at least one first gate by the at least one stack, the at least one second gate or second layer permitting sensing of ions, and/or molecules and/or biomarkers, and at least one microfluidic channel or structure connected to or provided on the at least one second gate or second layer.

Field-effect transistor device or sensor for sensing ions, molecules or biomarkers in a fluid

One embodiment of the present invention concerns a biosensor for sensing stress hormone cortisol concentration in a biofluid. The biosensor comprises: an electrical transistor transducer comprising a transistor gate electrode; a sensing electrode element comprising a metal element having a biofluid facing surface, and a graphene layer on the biofluid facing surface of the metal element, the sensing electrode element being connected to the transistor gate electrode by an electrical connector to form an extended gate configuration with the transistor gate electrode; and a reference electrode configured to be in contact with the biofluid, and configured to electrically bias the transistor gate electrode through the biofluid. The sensing electrode element is functionalised by at least a layer of aptamers placed indirectly or directly on the graphene layer, and configured to catch cortisol hormones in the biofluid to thereby change a surface potential of the sensing electrode element.

Apparatus and method for measuring hormone concentration in biofluids

A biosensor includes a source element; a drain element; a semiconductor channel element between the source element and the drain element for forming an electrically conductive channel with adjustable conductivity between the source and drain elements; a first gate element configured to be electrically biased to set a given operational regime of the sensor with given electrical conductivity of the channel; and a second gate element, physically separate from the first gate element, configured to contact a solution comprising analytes allowed to interact with a gate contact surface of the second gate element to generate a surface potential change dependent on the concentration of the analytes in the solution. The channel element is substantially fully depleted allowing the first and second gate elements to be electrostatically coupled such that the surface potential change at the second gate element is configured to modify the electrical conductivity of the channel.

Double-gate field-effect-transistor based biosensor

An on-body wearable bio-fluid collection and sensing device including an interface or interface surface comprising at least one biocompatible material for contacting a bodily part; at least one inlet for receiving the bio-fluid, at least one outlet for evacuating the bio-fluid, a plurality of semiconductor sensors configured to analyze the received bio-fluid, at least one reference electrode for biasing a bio-fluid gate of at least one of the semiconductor sensors, and at least one micro-fluidic or nano-fluidic channel in fluid communication with the at least one inlet, the at least one outlet and the at least one reference electrode; the at least one micro-fluidic or nano-fluidic channel includes the plurality of semiconductor sensors.

Bio-fluid collection and sensing device, system and method

Presented herein are devices for collecting and/or channeling a biofluid (e.g., sweat, tears, saliva) and detecting and/or quantifying one or more biomarkers in the biofluid. The one or more biomarkers may include, for example, ions, salts thereof, hormones and/or steroids, proteins, metabolites and organic compounds. In certain embodiments, the devices described herein include a specially designed interface and a zero-energy micro pump that allow the device to be comfortably affixed directly to the skin of a user while biofluid is efficiently and non-invasively collected from the skin of the user. In certain embodiments, the biofluid collection and sensing device is housed on or in another wearable device, such as a wrist band or a smart watch. In certain embodiments, the devices described herein are disposable (e.g., after a certain period of use and/or wear the device can be disposed and replaced with a low-cost replacement).

Apparatus for non-invasive sensing of biomarkers in human sweat

A semiconductor sensor includes a source element; a drain element; and a semiconductor channel element between the source element and the drain element, forming an electrically conductive channel. An insulator is positioned between the semiconductor channel element and a solution to be sensed. A reference contacts the solution and sets an electric potential of the solution. A bias voltage source generates an external sensor bias voltage for electrically biasing the reference electrode. A sensing surface interacts with the solution comprising analytes for generating a surface potential change at the sensing surface dependent on the concentration of analytes. The sensor further includes a ferroelectric capacitance element between the insulator and the bias voltage source for generating a negative capacitance for a differential gain between the external sensor bias voltage and an internal sensor bias voltage sensed at a surface of the channel element facing the insulator or ferroelectric capacitance element.

Negative capacitance semiconductor sensor

A charge sensing device for sensing charge variations in a charge storage area includes: a TFET having at least one sense gate; and a capacitive coupling for coupling the charge storage area with the sense gate.

Sensing device for sensing minor charge variations

System for monitoring the hydration status of a living being by exploiting the modulation of backscattered RF electromagnetic waves from a wearable patched placed on the skin, said system comprising:

System for the remote monitoring of the hydration status of a living being

A tunneling field effect transistor for light detection, including a p-type region connected to a source terminal, a n-type region connected to a drain terminal, an intrinsic region located between the p-type region and the n-type region to form a P-I junction or an N-I junction with the n-type region or the p-type region, respectively, a first insulating layer and a first gate electrode, the first gate electrode covering a portion of the intrinsic region on one side, and a second insulating layer and a second gate electrode, the second insulating layer and the second gate electrode covering an entire other side of the intrinsic region opposite to the one side, wherein an area of the intrinsic region that is not covered by the first gate electrode forms a non-gated intrinsic area configured for light absorption.

One transistor active pixel sensor with tunnel FET

The present invention concerns a semiconductor tunneling Field-Effect device including a source, a drain, at least one elongated semiconductor structure extending in an elongated direction, a first gate, and a second gate. The first gate has a length extending in said elongated direction and is positioned on a first side of the at least one elongated semiconductor structure, and the second gate has a length extending in said elongated direction and is positioned on a second opposing side of the at least one elongated semiconductor structure. The first and second gates extend along the first and second sides of the at least one elongated semiconductor structure to define an overlap zone sandwiched between the first gate and the second gate, said overlap zone extending the full length of the first and/or second gate along the at least one elongated semiconductor structure.

Semiconductor tunneling device

A single field effect transistor capacitor-less memory device, and method of operating the same, including a drain region, a source region, an intrinsic channel region between the drain region and the source region forming the single field effect transistor and a base. The device further includes a fin structure comprising the source region, the intrinsic channel and the drain region, the fin structure extending outwardly from the base, and a double gate comprising a first gate connected to a first exposed lateral face of the intrinsic channel region for transistor control, and a second gate connected to a second exposed lateral face of the intrinsic channel region to generate a potential well for storing mobile charge carriers permitting memory operation, the first gate and the second gate being asymmetric for asymmetric electrostatic control of the device.

Single field effect transistor capacitor-less memory device and method of operating the same

A junctionless Nano-Electro-Mechanical (NEM) resonator, comprising a highly doped conductive channel connecting a drain region and a source region; the conduction channel region is movable and the overall structure is fixed at least at these two ends placed on acting the source and drain regions, respectively; at least one fixed gate electrode arranged to control a depletion charge in the highly doped conductive channel thereby modulating dimensions of a cross-section of the highly doped conductive channel. A dimension of the cross-section in the direction of an electrical field that is oriented from the fixed gate electrode to the highly doped conductive channel, is designed in such a way that it can be reduced under the effect of the depletion charge such that a full depletion in the highly doped conductive channel is achievable with the control of the fixed gate electrode.

Junctionless nano-electro-mechanical resonant transistor

A 3D M-CNT structure with at least one tri-state CNT NEM switch comprising at least an electrode as a source, an electrode as a gate and an electrode as a drain, a conductive carbon nanotube which is able to take three positions depending on a voltage application to said electrodes.

3D nano-electro-mechanical multiple-state carbon nanotube device structures and methods of fabrication

The present invention exploits the combination of the amplification, provided by the integration of a FET (or any other three terminal active device), with the signal modulation, provided by the MEM resonator, to build a MEM resonator with built-in transistor (hereafter called active MEM resonator). In these devices, a mechanical displacement is converted into a current modulation and depending on the active MEM resonator geometry, number of gates and bias conditions it is possible to selectively amplify an applied signal. This invention integrates proposes to integrate transistor and micro-electro-mechanical resonator operation in a device with a single body and multiple surrounding gates for improved performance, control and functionality. Moreover, under certain conditions, an active resonator can serve as DC-AC converter and provide at the output an AC signal corresponding to its mechanical resonance frequency.

Growing community of inventors

Ecublens, Switzerland

Mihai Adrian Ionescu