Carbon nanotube and semiconductor nanowires could potentially usher in a new era in chemical detection for environmental, biomedical, and
security applications by providing highly sensitive detection at very
low cost. For wireless sensor networks and implantable biomedical
sensing devices, system power consumption is a critical factor in
determining volume, operating lifetime, and circuit performance. We
describe several key circuit challenges related to interfacing
variable resistance nanosensors to digital integrated circuits through analog-to-digital data conversion. These challenges include drift in nanosensor baseline resistance due to fabrication variances and incomplete chemical desorption, various sensor and circuit noise
sources, and integrated sensor and circuit area and power tradeoffs.
We describe and evaluate the potential of several circuit techniques
to address these issues, including self-test, self-calibration, and
noise cancellation. Simulations indicate that +/- 40% variations in
fabricated baseline resistance can be reduced to +/- 2% with a 25%
increase in sensing area using a configurable sensor design. Based on these results, we explore potential A/D converter architectures for their use as low power nanosensor interfaces. Finally, we discuss resolution limits to miniaturization of nanosensor interface
circuits.
Conference Committee Involvement (2)
Nanosensing: Materials, Devices, and Systems III
11 September 2007 | Boston, MA, United States
Nanomaterial Synthesis and Integration for Sensors, Electronics, Photonics, and Electro-Optics
1 October 2006 | Boston, Massachusetts, United States
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