title: Low temperature co-fired ceramic packaging of CMOS capacitive sensor chip towards cell viability monitoring.
abstract: Cell viability monitoring is an important part of biosafety evaluation for the detection of toxic effects on cells caused by nanomaterials, preferably by label-free, noninvasive, fast, and cost effective methods. These requirements can be met by monitoring cell viability with a capacitance-sensing integrated circuit (IC) microchip. The capacitance provides a measurement of the surface attachment of adherent cells as an indication of their health status. However, the moist, warm, and corrosive biological environment requires reliable packaging of the sensor chip. In this work, a second generation of low temperature co-fired ceramic (LTCC) technology was combined with flip-chip bonding to provide a durable package compatible with cell culture. The LTCC-packaged sensor chip was integrated with a printed circuit board, data acquisition device, and measurement-controlling software. The packaged sensor chip functioned well in the presence of cell medium and cells, with output voltages depending on the medium above the capacitors. Moreover, the manufacturing of microfluidic channels in the LTCC package was demonstrated.
authors.affiliation: Microelectronics Research Unit, Faculty of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering, P.O.Box 4500, FI-90014 University of Oulu, Finland.
authors.forename: Niina
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Halonen
authors.affiliation: Microelectronics Research Unit, Faculty of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering, P.O.Box 4500, FI-90014 University of Oulu, Finland.
authors.forename: Joni
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kilpijärvi
authors.affiliation: Microelectronics Research Unit, Faculty of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering, P.O.Box 4500, FI-90014 University of Oulu, Finland.
authors.forename: Maciej
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sobocinski
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering and the Institute for Systems Research, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA.
authors.forename: Timir
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Datta-Chaudhuri
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine, University of Oulu, P.O. Box 5400, FI-90014 University of Oulu, Finland.
authors.forename: Antti
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hassinen
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering and the Institute for Systems Research, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA; Advanced Design Organization, Intel Corporation, Hillsboro, USA.
authors.forename: Someshekar B
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Prakash
authors.affiliation: Division of Applied Sensor Science, Department of Physics, Chemistry and Biology, Linköping University, SE-58183 Linköping, Sweden.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Möller
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering and the Institute for Systems Research, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA.
authors.forename: Pamela
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Abshire
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine, University of Oulu, P.O. Box 5400, FI-90014 University of Oulu, Finland.
authors.forename: Sakari
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kellokumpu
authors.affiliation: Microelectronics Research Unit, Faculty of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering, P.O.Box 4500, FI-90014 University of Oulu, Finland; Division of Applied Sensor Science, Department of Physics, Chemistry and Biology, Linköping University, SE-58183 Linköping, Sweden.
authors.forename: Anita
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lloyd Spetz
keywords: capacitance sensing; cell viability; lab-on-a-chip; low temperature co-fired ceramic (LTCC)