Flexible complementary metal oxide semiconductor microelectrode arrays with applications in single cell characterization

A highly flexible microelectrode array with an embedded complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) instrumentation amplifier suitable for sensing surfaces of biological entities is developed. The array is based on ultrathin CMOS islands that are thermally isolated from each other and are interconnected by meandered nano-scale wires that can adapt to cellular surfaces with micro-scale curvatures. CMOS temperature sensors are placed in the islands and are optimally biased to have high temperature sensitivity. While no live cell thermometry is conducted, a measured temperature sensitivity of 0.15 °C in the temperature range of 35 to 40 °C is achieved by utilizing a low noise CMOS lock-in amplifier implemented in the same technology. The monolithic nature of CMOS sensors and amplifier circuits and their versatile flexible interconnecting wires overcome the sensitivity and yield limitations of microelectrode arrays fabricated in competing technologies.