An inductor-less, cost-effective On-chip CMOS VNA for bio-molecule detection

Biomolecules play indispensable roles in all life processes, including disease development, so their accurate detection is critical to cell investigation, medical diagnosis, and treatment. Radio Frequency (RF) sensing has become a popular testing technique compared to traditional methods for biomolecule analysis, providing results in less time using less volume of samples. It allows rapid, sensitive, real-time measurements and label-free techniques. However, for taking the signals from biomolecules over the RF-based sensors we need to connect them with the Vector Network Analyzer (VNA) which is a bulky and costly device. To develop an RF sensing based a true lab-on-chip (LoC) device, the paper presents a fully integrated low-power less-area on-chip single port CMOS VNA designed in 65nm CMOS technology to detect the bio-molecule The proposed design works in a tunable frequency range of 0.5 GHz to 2.5 GHz, ensuring much higher precision. Using an RLC equivalent of an Interdigitated capacitor (IDC) sensor, a fully integrated architecture for detecting S₁₁ of the biomolecules has been introduced. A resistive bridge coupler is used for wideband operation with a directivity of 14.89dB up to 2.5 GHz. Also, a high-linearity LNA (low noise amplifier) is designed with a linearity of -13dB and a gain of 14dB. The LNA has a low NF of 3.21dB. The design occupies an active area of 0.01767mm² and consumes power of 41mW from a 1 V supply.