NEGATIVE CAPACITANCE SEMICONDUCTOR SENSOR

• Main Authors: Ionescu, Mihai Adrian, Saeidi, Ali, Bellando, Francesco
• Format: Patent
• Language: English; French; German
• Published: 24.06.2020
• Subjects: INVESTIGATING OR ANALYSING MATERIALS BY DETERMINING THEIRCHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL PROPERTIES; MEASURING; PHYSICS; TESTING

The present invention relates to a semiconductor sensor (1) comprising: a source element (17, 19); a drain element (21, 23); a semiconductor channel element (25) between the source element (17, 19) and the drain element (21, 23) for forming an electrically conductive channel; a first insulator (27) between the semiconductor channel element and a solution (3) to be sensed; a reference electrode (9) configured to be in contact with the solution (3), the reference electrode (9) being configured to set an electric potential of the solution; a bias voltage source (5) for generating an external sensor bias voltage for electrically biasing the reference electrode (9); and a sensing surface (27, 37) for interacting with the solution (3) comprising analytes for generating a surface potential change at the sensing surface dependent on the concentration of the analytes in the solution. The sensor further comprises a ferroelectric capacitance element (7) between the first insulator (27) and the bias voltage source (5) for generating a negative capacitance for providing a differential gain between the external sensor bias voltage and an internal sensor bias voltage sensed at a surface of the channel element (25) facing the first insulator (27) or ferroelectric capacitance element (7).