Recent Advances of Field-Effect Transistor Technology for Infectious Diseases

Abstract

Field-effect transistor (FET) biosensors have been intensively researched toward label-free biomolecule sensing for different disease screening applications. High sensitivity, incredible miniaturization capability, promising extremely low minimum limit of detection (LoD) at the molecular level, integration with complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology and last but not least label-free operation were amongst the predominant motives for highlighting these sensors in the biosensor community. Although there are various diseases targeted by FET sensors for detection, infectious diseases are still the most demanding sector that needs higher precision in detection and integration for the realization of the diagnosis at the point of care (PoC). The COVID-19 pandemic, nevertheless, was an example of the escalated situation in terms of worldwide desperate need for fast, specific and reliable home test PoC devices for the timely screening of huge numbers of people to restrict the disease from further spread. This need spawned a wave of innovative approaches for early detection of COVID-19 antibodies in human swab or blood amongst which the FET biosensing gained much more attention due to their extraordinary LoD down to femtomolar (fM) with the comparatively faster response time. As the FET sensors are promising novel PoC devices with application in early diagnosis of various diseases and especially infectious diseases, in this research, we have reviewed the recent progress on developing FET sensors for infectious diseases diagnosis accompanied with a thorough discussion on the structure of Chem/BioFET sensors and the readout circuitry for output signal processing. This approach would help engineers and biologists to gain enough knowledge to initiate their design for accelerated innovations in response to the need for more efficient management of infectious diseases like COVID-19.

A Hybrid Microfluidic Electronic Sensing Platform for Life Science Applications

“…Electrochemical sensors are being used in various applications, such as the food industry, pharmaceutical, oil and gas, environmental monitoring and biomedical engineering [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 ]. These sensors promise faster and more sensitive techniques for detecting diseases and hazardous materials [ 5 , 6 ].…”

“…The ISFETs range from carbonaceous FET sensors (e.g., graphene, carbon nanotubes) to 2D materials (e.g., MoS 2 ) [ 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 ]. Many efforts have been made to develop ISFETs based on technologically flawless silicon-based complementary metal-oxide semiconductors (CMOS) technology, resulting in different sensing structures and topologies [ 4 ] offering high-yield productions. They have been successfully verified to detect various diseases, such as malaria, influenza, hepatitis B virus, COVID-19 disease and bacteria-based diseases [ 4 , 11 ].…”

“…Many efforts have been made to develop ISFETs based on technologically flawless silicon-based complementary metal-oxide semiconductors (CMOS) technology, resulting in different sensing structures and topologies [ 4 ] offering high-yield productions. They have been successfully verified to detect various diseases, such as malaria, influenza, hepatitis B virus, COVID-19 disease and bacteria-based diseases [ 4 , 11 ]. Immobilizing the surface of ISFETs with different biomolecules gives rise to biological FETs (BioFETs), which could be GEN FET (DNA sensors), Cell FET (for cell analysis), Enzyme FET (for enzymatic reactions analysis), etc.…”

“…[ 12 , 13 , 14 ]. Additionally, as the ISFETs are sensitive to ions concentration in liquids, they have also been used directly in pH measurements [ 4 ].…”

A Rapid Detection of COVID‐19 Viral RNA in Human Saliva Using Electrical Double Layer‐Gated Field‐Effect Transistor‐Based Biosensors

“…[ 35 , 36 ] To necessitate rapid and precise screenings for COVID‐19, field‐effect transistor‐based biosensors (BioFETs) have emerged as a potential tool amongst novel biosensing techniques. [ 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 ] The electrical double layer (EDL)‐gated BioFET was developed to avoid the Debye screening effect and to enable a detection in a physiological condition. [ 39 , 40 , 41 ] The sensing modality was predicated on EDL capacitance and non‐faradic effect, resulting in an ease of sample pretreatment.…”