Portable Measurement System for the Characterization of Capacitive Field-Effect Sensors

A user-friendly, portable, low-cost readout system for the on-site or point-of-care characterization of chemo- and biosensors based on an electrolyte–insulator–semiconductor capacitor (EISCAP) has been developed using a thumb-drive-sized commercial impedance analyzer. The system is controlled by a c...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Tobias Karschuck, Stefan Schmidt, Stefan Achtsnicht, Joey Ser, Ismail Bouarich, Georges Aboutass, Arshak Poghossian, Patrick H. Wagner, Michael J. Schöning
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2025-04-01
Series:Sensors
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/25/9/2681
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:A user-friendly, portable, low-cost readout system for the on-site or point-of-care characterization of chemo- and biosensors based on an electrolyte–insulator–semiconductor capacitor (EISCAP) has been developed using a thumb-drive-sized commercial impedance analyzer. The system is controlled by a custom Python script and allows to characterize EISCAP sensors with different methods (impedance spectra, capacitance-voltage, and constant-capacitance modes), which are selected in a user interface. The performance of the portable readout system was evaluated by pH measurements and the detection of the antibiotic penicillin, hereby using EISCAPs consisting of Al/p-Si/SiO<sub>2</sub>/Ta<sub>2</sub>O<sub>5</sub> structures and compared to the results obtained with a stationary commercial impedance analyzer. Both the portable and the commercial systems provide very similar results with almost perfectly overlapping recorded EISCAP signals. The new portable system can accelerate the transition of EISCAP sensors from research laboratories to commercial end-user devices.
ISSN:1424-8220