A CMOS active pixel sensor based DNA micro-array with nano-metallic particles detection protocol

A DNA micro-array (DMA) for DNA detection is reported. The DMA combines a standard CMOS active pixel image sensor with a DNA detection protocol utilizing the binding of DNA targets and probes functionalized with gold nano-particles that can modify the opaqueness at the detection site. The DMA has been fabricated using a 0.5 μm CMOS process together with on-chip timing control and correlated double sampling. Experimental results show that the system can detect DNA samples with extremely low concentration down to 10 pM using ordinary light source.