Fully Integrated Electronic-Photonic Sensor for Label-Free Refractive Index Sensing in Advanced Zero-Change CMOS-SOI Process

Immediate and widely accessible diagnostics are the key for halting rapidly spreading, and potentially fatal pathogens. A low cost, scalable, real-time biosensing platform unlocks the path towards miniaturized and cost-effective Point of Care (POC) sensors. Here we solve this problem by developing the world's first fully integrated electronic-photonic, real-time, label-free Refractive Index (RI) sensor, utilizing on-chip electronics and micro-ring resonators (MRRs) in a commercial CMOS 45nm RFSOI platform. RI sensing and real time molecular kinetics are demonstrated for the first time in a monolithic electronic-photonic system-on-chip without requiring bulky optics and off-chip electronic equipment, enabling self-contained real-time POC sensors. The sensitivity performance corresponds to a limit of detection (LoD) of a single 100nm nanoparticle, similar to the size and RI of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.