Title:  3D Integrated Re-Mateable CMOS Bio-Systems and Enabling Technologies

Committee: 

Dr. Bakir, Advisor

Dr. Brand, Chair

Dr. Wang

Abstract:

The objective of the proposed research is to develop a 3D integrated re-mateable bio-system that sits atop a CMOS biosensor so to increase testing throughput at a low cost. Conventionally, CMOS-based bio-sensor systems require cleaning and sterilization procedures in order to reuse said systems, which can possibly limit testing throughput in facilities where testing is limited by the number of available systems (and re-usability is limited as pads eventually erode). Discarding said system after a single use and replacing it with a new system is another option to circumventing the cross-contamination problem; however, such a system may possibly be permanently integrated into a board, which may force the discarding of the entire board, a potentially impractical option. Some have developed systems where the cell sensing site is separate from the CMOS component of the system. In these cases, the CMOS chip and board are re-usable as the cells are grown on the sensing site, which temporarily integrates with the CMOS chip. These systems provide the advantage of allowing the bio-systems to be continuously used for testing so long as sensing site modules are available. Almost all of the aforementioned re-mateable systems are integrated via long 2D board traces, which of course limits the resolution and signal integrity of the bio-system. Therefore, we propose a 3D integrated re-mateable bio-system that carries the aforementioned advantages associated with the separation between CMOS chip and sensing site while at the same time providing high resolution testing while possibly achieving better signal integrity (as interconnects are electrically shorter).