Electrically verifying a CMOS Multi-Modal Electrochemical, Impedance, and Optical Cellular Sensing Array for Massively Paralleled Exoelectrogen Screening

Project Description

Electrically test a new CMOS sensor array for characterizing the genetic variants of exoelectrogens, which are microorganisms that can transfer electrons between intracellular components and extracellular entities. Exoelectrogens have a wide range of applications in industrial and defense areas due to their unique current-generating abilities. However, their low electron transfer rates and inability to derive energy from complex energy sources limit their utility. The project proposes to use the CMOS multi-sensor array to provide high throughput multi-parametric physiological information on exoelectrogens, which requires multi-modal sensing due to the complexity and long time-scales of electrochemical charge transfer. The proposed chip is composed of standard high-precision three-electrode potentiostats and high sensitivity current detection circuits, and photodiodes, along with impedance sensing blocks that measure cell adhesion to the chip surface and track biofilm proliferation. The chip can function autonomously and can be integrated with droplet-based microfluidics to interrogate multiple samples simultaneously, reducing the required sample volume to as low as 50nL. The project's goal is to electrically verify this chip in the effort to improve the throughput and efficacy of the design build test learn cycle used to develop cell strains containing desired properties.

Requirements

Analog Integrated Circuits
PCB Design
MATLAB/Simulink experience
Labview experience
Chip packaging experience (wirebond)

Project components

30% PCB Design
30% Labview code for chip and equipment programming
40% Electrical Testing

Background material

https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9385934

Contact

Adam Wang :adwang [at] iis.ee.ethz.ch
Prof. Dr. Hua Wang :hua.wang [at] iis.ee.ethz.ch