Fraunhofer miniaturises ISFET-based pH sensor control
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The Fraunhofer Institute for Photonic Microsystems (IPMS) has miniaturised the electronics required to control ion-sensitive field-effect transistors (ISFET) while significantly reducing manufacturing costs and power consumption.
The new electronics can be made available for direct use or for integration into in-house measuring systems. This follows the development of niobium pentoxide-based ISFET pH sensors, which are used to continuously and precisely measure of pH values by determining the concentration of certain ions in water or other aqueous media in real-time.
“After almost one year of development, we have succeeded in controlling our Nb2O5-ISFETs to measure continuously with a power consumption of less than 1.3 mW including electronics,” says Dr. Olaf R. Hild, Head of the business unit Chemical Sensors at Fraunhofer IPMS. The power consumption of the sensor system now only amounts to 190 µW. Power consumption and size are essential parameters for mobile measuring systems.
Applications arise in continuous water monitoring and environmental analysis. However, long-term applications in medical technology, such as the analysis of various body fluids, also require small, high-performance measuring systems.
The new control electronics to be showcased at the “Sensor and Test” trade fair in Nuremberg this May are particularly low-power and energy-efficient, easy to handle, and ready for immediate use. This system consists of analogue electronics consuming less than 1.3 mW and digital electronics connectable via USB-C at approximately 100 mW, facilitating fast on-site calibration.
“As the Fraunhofer IPMS ISFETs offer extremely low drift and exhibit almost perfect Nernst dependence, a single-point calibration is adequate for the vast majority of applications,” says electronics developer Hans-Georg Dallmann. This guarantees a high level of accuracy, even over longer periods of time.
“The next goal is even smaller with ISFET chips under one-millimetre square to be able to address size-limited applications. Our cleanroom is perfectly well equipped for this challenge,” says technologist Falah Al-Falahi confidently.
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