In our biosensing studies, we combine materials design and device architecture to bridge the biological elements to the electronic interface. Here in LAMA lab, we explore multi-layer metal oxide thin-film transistor (TFT) as a novel biosensor for label-free and real-time detection. The device engineering combines the novel hetero-structure metal oxide channel that can sustain a 2-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) which leads to a higher mobility and surface functionalization capacity to create an ultrasensitive, highly stable and versatile sensor. The prototype solid-state TFT sensor features a sub-10 nm-thick metal oxide heterojunction channel of an In2O3 and a top ZnO layer. Our team focuses on the prototype samples, but we are also working on integrating the devices with a microfluidic system and build it into a microarray chip. The designed biosensors have an efficient potential to develop a miniaturized sensing platform to detect glucose, DNA sequence, proteins, or viruses, which can provide early clinical diagnosis and reduce the patient-care cost.
