A biochemical translinear principle with weak inversion ISFETs

A weak inversion region is shown to exist in ion-sensitive field effect transistor (ISFET) sensors. It is therefore proposed that the ISFET and its chemically sensitive (ChemFET) counterparts be used as translinear elements in the synthesis of novel biochemical input stages which perform real-time mathematical manipulation of biochemical signals. A Biochemical Translinear Principle using weakly inverted ChemFETs is presented. A low-power current-mode input stage circuit is presented as an application of the principle. This yields a linear relation between drain current and hydrogen ion concentration valid over four decades. This paper demonstrates an important and necessary step toward biochemical VLSI.