CMOS Compatible Micro and Nano Electrodes for Electrochemical Sensing: Plenary Session

Microscale electrodes have been widely researched over the last thirty or so years with much interest centered on electrochemical sensing applications. We developed a microscale electrode capability that can be fabricated by post-processing foundry CMOS wafers. This approach offers a typical range of “More-Than-Moore” advantages including the integration of active electronics; scaling from individual – or a small number of – electrodes to high numbers of electrodes in one– and two–dimensional arrays; and the potential for reproducible and economical manufacture at scale. The use of such microelectrodes and arrays of microelectrodes continues to be reported for electrochemical sensing in a range of applications including biosensing and sensing in harsh environments.

Compared to their microscale equivalents, electrodes with nanoscale dimensions have been shown – both in simulation and experimentally – to exhibit enhanced characteristics and performance. We have developed a nanoscale electrode system, Microsquare Nanoband Edge Electrode (MNEE), that can be produced using standard microscale lithography and microfabrication techniques. MNEEs thus combine the enhanced performance of nanoscale electrode dimensions with the existing advantages of the microscale “More-Than-Moore” approach.