J. Remacle

Immobilization of DNA on CMOS compatible materials

The main interface and interconnection materials normally used in complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) integrated circuit processing, i.e. silicon oxides and aluminum, were evaluated with regards to deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) attachment. We investigated and quantified the influence of various techniques of fabrication of the silicon oxide on DNA binding obtained by four different biochemical processes. Regarding aluminum, we found that it only binds DNA in the presence of its natural oxide and that it is severely degraded by one of the three typical biochemical processes. Optimal process conditions for DNA binding on silicon oxides with aluminum compatibility are finally derived

DNA electrical detection based on inductor resonance frequency in standard CMOS technology

Several electrical methods have been studied for the detection of DNA hybridization on silicon chips, using capacitance or resistance changes of micro-arrays of electrode fingers. In this work, we studied the possibility of detecting DNA by the measurement of the resonance frequency shift of an inductor designed on Si substrate. Self-resonance frequency shift as large as 10 GHz before and after DNA hybridization has been measured for inductors made from standard CMOS process with a protective oxide coating and a DNA amplification based on silver enhancement.