Low-Power pH Sensor Based on Narrow Channel Open-Gated Al0.25Ga0.75N/GaN HEMT and Package Integrated Polydimethylsiloxane Microchannels

Abstract

pH sensors with low-power and strong anti-interference are extremely important for industrial online real-time detection. Herein, a narrow channel pH sensor based on Al0.25Ga0.75N/GaN high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) with package integrated Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) microchannels is proposed. The fabricated device has shown potential advantages in improving stability and reducing power consumption in response to pH changes of the solution. The performance of the pH sensor was demonstrated where the preliminary results showed an ultra-low power (<5.0 μW) at VDS = 1.0 V. Meanwhile, the sensitivity was 0.06 μA/V·pH in the range of pH = 2 to pH = 10, and the resolution of the sensor was 0.1 pH. The improvement in performance of the proposed sensor can be related to the narrow channel and microchannel, which can be attributed to better surface GaxOy in a microchannel with larger H+ and HO− concentration on the sensing surface during the detection process. The low-power sensor with excellent stability can be widely used in various unattended or harsh environments, and it is more conducive to integration and intelligence, which lays the foundation for online monitoring in vivo.

Status and Prospects of Heterojunction-Based HEMT for Next-Generation Biosensors

“…Although the HEMT biosensor has demonstrated better sensing performance compared to the FET biosensor, this is owing to its sensing surface, which is extremely sensitive to any minor charge changes due to the location of the 2DEG channel that is near the sensing surface [ 50 ]. Essentially, the HEMT device is already sensitive even without any functionalization on the sensing surface [ 51 , 52 ], whereas the majority of FET biosensors require surface functionalization for sensing purposes [ 53 ]. Additionally, HEMT is a normally on operation device [ 38 ] and does not require a gate electrode to turn on, which contrasts with the conventional FET [ 39 , 40 ].…”