Chemical and Biochemical Microsensors in Silicon for the Clinical on-Line Monitoring

Abstract

Miniaturised chemosensors and biosensors for applications in clinical diagnostics and biomedical fields can be fabricated in silicon with high reproducibility using the containment technology. They are characterised by excellent durability of the sensitive membranes. Meanwhile, there are sensors available for a variety of relevant medically parameters such as pH, the blood electrolytes sodium, calcium, potassium, and the blood metabolites glucose and lactate. The miniaturised sensors provide the opportunity to develop product solutions with minimal sampling volume requirements for the "Point of Care (POC)" sector through the combination of innovative microtechnical components. Two examples are presented, such microsystems have been implemented for the medical applications of "Blood Monitoring" and "Glucose Monitoring".