We report the integration of an automated chemical optical sensing unit for the parallel interrogation of 12 BICELLs in a sensing chip. The work was accomplished under the European Project Enviguard (FP7-OCEAN-2013-614057) with the aim of demonstrating an optical nano-biosensing unit for the in-situ detection of various chemical pollutants simultaneously in oceanic waters. In this context, we designed an optical sensing chip based on resonant nanopillars (R-NPs) transducers organized in a layout of twelve biophotonic sensing cells (BICELLs). The sensing chip is interrogated in reflection with a 12-channels optical spectrometer equipped with an embedded computer-on-chip performing image processing for the simultaneous acquisition and analysis (resonant mode fitting) of the 12 spectra. A microfluidic chip and an automated flow control system composed of four pumps and a multi-path micro-valve makes it possible to drive different complex protocols. A rack was designed ad-hoc for the integration of all the modules. As a proof of concept, fluids of different refractive index (RI) were flowed in the system in order to measure the time response (sensogram) of the R-NPs under optical reflectance, and assess the sensors’ bulk sensitivity (285.9 ± 16.4 nm/RIU) and Limit of Detection (LoD) (2.95 × 10−6 RIUS). The real-time response under continuous flow of a sensor chip based on R-NP is showed for the first time, obtaining 12 sensograms simultaneously, featuring the unit as a potential excellent multiplexed detection system. These results indicate the high potential of the developed chemical sensing unit to be used for in-situ, multiplex and automatic optical biosensing.
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to discuss the effect of hybrid cascode compensation with quality factor (Q-factor) control module for the three-stage amplifiers driving ultra-large load capacitors. Compared to the present frequency compensation solutions, it extends the amplifier bandwidth by establishing an extra AC feedback pathway besides the primary pathway through the Miller capacitor, increasing the loop gain at the gain–bandwidth product (GBW) frequency by pushing to the higher frequencies the nondominant poles.
Design/methodology/approach
A Q-factor control block is used to improve the damping factor of the compensation loop with no power or area overhead, thereby reducing the frequency peaking and the undesired oscillation in the time response for small load capacitors. The Q-factor control module is realized by a tiny-size on-chip capacitor, and provides an extra feedback loop to feed the damping current back to the input stage. A left-half-plane (LHP) zero is also introduced to further improve the stability.
Findings
A prototype of the proposed amplifier is simulated in 180-nm CMOS with a quiescent current of 24-µA from 1.80-V voltage supply. It achieves a 3.98-MHz gain–bandwidth product for 500-pF load capacitor, while the overall compensation capacitor is limited to 0.5-pF and the DC gain is extended beyond 100-dB.
Originality/value
The proposed amplifier is absolutely stable for the load capacitors ranging between 80-pF and 100-nF.
On-chip Q-factor greater than 1 billion