On-chip biosensors based on microwave detection for cell scale investigations

This paper presents original label free bio sensors allowing the study of electrical properties of human cells and so potentially cell identification and discrimination. Proposed biosensors are based on planar devices operating at microwave frequencies and fabricated using a standard microelectronic process. Actually, their microscopic sensitive areas allow an improved detection at the cell scale which represents a significant progress in the study of many biological phenomenon. In this paper, biosensor detection capabilities are demonstrated on only few biological cells analysis up to one single cell interacting with the sensor. Fabricated micro-sensors can be used to determine cell intrinsic electrical impedance at microwave frequencies allowing a label free approach to accurately discriminate biological cells. © 2010 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.