A ChemFET is a chemically-sensitive field-effect transistor, that is a

field-effect transistor The field-effect transistor (FET) is a type of transistor that uses an electric field to control the current through a semiconductor. It comes in two types: junction FET (JFET) and metal-oxide-semiconductor FET (MOSFET). FETs have three termi ...

used as a

sensor A sensor is often defined as a device that receives and responds to a signal or stimulus. The stimulus is the quantity, property, or condition that is sensed and converted into electrical signal. In the broadest definition, a sensor is a devi ...

for measuring chemical concentrations in

solution Solution may refer to: * Solution (chemistry), a mixture where one substance is dissolved in another * Solution (equation), in mathematics ** Numerical solution, in numerical analysis, approximate solutions within specified error bounds * Solu ...

. When the target

analyte An analyte, component (in clinical chemistry), titrand (in titrations), or chemical species is a substance or chemical constituent that is of interest in an analytical procedure. The remainder of the sample is called the matrix. The procedure ...

concentration changes, the current through the

transistor A transistor is a semiconductor device used to Electronic amplifier, amplify or electronic switch, switch electrical signals and electric power, power. It is one of the basic building blocks of modern electronics. It is composed of semicondu ...

will change accordingly. Here, the analyte solution separates the source and gate electrodes. A concentration gradient between the solution and the gate electrode arises due to a semi-permeable membrane on the FET surface containing receptor moieties that preferentially bind the target analyte. This concentration gradient of charged analyte ions creates a chemical potential between the source and gate, which is in turn measured by the FET.

Construction

A ChemFET's source and drain are constructed as for an ISFET, with the gate electrode separated from the source electrode by a solution. The gate electrode's interface with the solution is a semi-permeable membrane containing the receptors, and a gap to allow the substance under test to come in contact with the sensitive receptor moieties. A ChemFET's

threshold voltage The threshold voltage, commonly abbreviated as Vth or VGS(th), of a field-effect transistor (FET) is the minimum gate-to-source voltage (VGS) that is needed to create a conducting path between the source and drain terminals. It is an important s ...

depends on the concentration gradient between the analyte in solution and the analyte in contact with its receptor-embedded semi-permeable barrier. Often,

ionophore In chemistry, an ionophore () is a chemical species that reversibly binds ions. Many ionophores are lipid-soluble entities that transport ions across the cell membrane. Ionophores catalyze ion transport across hydrophobic membranes, such as l ...

s are used to facilitate analyte ion mobility through the substrate to the receptor. For example, when targeting anions, quaternary ammonium salts (such as tetraoctylammonium bromide) are used to provide cationic nature to the membrane, facilitating anion mobility through the substrate to the receptor moieties.

Applications

ChemFETs can be utilized in either liquid or gas phase to detect target analyte, requiring reversible binding of analyte with a receptor located in the gate electrode membrane. There is a wide range of applications of ChemFETs, including most notably anion or cation selective sensing. More work has been done with cation-sensing ChemFETs than anion-sensing ChemFETs. Anion-sensing is more complicated than cation-sensing in ChemFETs due to many factors, including the size, shape, geometry, polarity, and pH of the species of interest.

Practical limitations

The body of a ChemFET is generally found to be robust. However, the unavoidable requirement for a separate reference electrode makes the system more bulky overall and potentially more fragile.

History

Dutch engineer Piet Bergveld studied the

MOSFET upright=1.3, Two power MOSFETs in amperes">A in the ''on'' state, dissipating up to about 100 watt">W and controlling a load of over 2000 W. A matchstick is pictured for scale. In electronics, the metal–oxide–semiconductor field- ...

and realized it could be adapted into a

for chemical and biological applications. In 1970, Bergveld invented the ion-sensitive field-effect transistor (ISFET). He described the ISFET as "a special type of MOSFET with a gate at a certain distance". In the ISFET structure, the

metal gate A metal gate, in the context of a lateral metal–oxide–semiconductor (MOS) stack, is the gate electrode separated by an oxide from the transistor's channel – the gate material is made from a metal. In most MOS transistors since about the mid- ...

of a standard MOSFET is replaced by an

ion An ion () is an atom or molecule with a net electrical charge. The charge of an electron is considered to be negative by convention and this charge is equal and opposite to the charge of a proton, which is considered to be positive by convent ...

-sensitive

membrane A membrane is a selective barrier; it allows some things to pass through but stops others. Such things may be molecules, ions, or other small particles. Membranes can be generally classified into synthetic membranes and biological membranes. Bi ...

electrolyte An electrolyte is a substance that conducts electricity through the movement of ions, but not through the movement of electrons. This includes most soluble Salt (chemistry), salts, acids, and Base (chemistry), bases, dissolved in a polar solven ...

solution and

reference electrode A reference electrode is an electrode that has a stable and well-known electrode potential. The overall chemical reaction taking place in a cell is made up of two independent half-reactions, which describe chemical changes at the two electrodes. ...

. ChemFETs are based on a modified ISFET, a concept developed by Bergveld in the 1970s. There is some confusion as to the relationship between ChemFETs and ISFETs. Whereas an ISFET only detects ions, a ChemFET detects any chemical (including ions).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chemical Field-Effect Transistor Acid–base chemistry Biosensors Electrochemistry Electrodes Field-effect transistors Measuring instruments MOSFETs Sensors Transistor types

Construction

Applications

Practical limitations

History

See also

References