CMOS-compatible biosensor for L-carnitine detection

A CMOS-compatible ISFET with a Ta2O5 sensitive surface was developed. The structure was optimized for achieving high sensitivity using a subthreshold operation mode and by reducing the influence of the capacitances on the value of subthreshold swing. The developed ISFET was used as a basis for a biosensor for L-carnitine detection. To this end, carnitine acetyltransferase was immobilized on the ISFET sensitive surface. The immobilized enzyme was active (0.082 U/g model plate). The complete microsystem, consisting of a packaged chip, an immobilized enzyme and a microfluidic channel, detected L-carnitine at a range of 0.2-100 μM with a LOD of 0.2 μM. The biosensor response was linear in the range of 0.2-50 μM of L-carnitine with sensitivity 18.0 ± 1.7 mV/μM. An experiment with artificial urine containing 1.3 μM L-carnitine showed that the proposed biosensor could be used on a real sample. Therefore, a new sensor specially optimized for biosensing CMOS-compatible ISFET structures and direct determination of L-carnitine with immobilized carnitine acetyltransferase was developed.