Substrate-Free Biosensor Mounting for Compact Fluid Analyte Detection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing biosensors, such as those described in EP 3 671 187 A1, lack improvements in functionality, reliability, and design, particularly in terms of compactness and material flexibility.
Innovation Solution
A biosensor system with a biosensor that lacks a substrate, allowing it to be mounted directly onto a carrier substrate, enabling the use of various materials and designs, including flexible substrates, and incorporating a detector component for detecting target analytes in a fluid sample.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If the biosensor is integrated with a substrate to provide structural support and housing, then mechanical strength and stability are improved, but device compactness and material flexibility deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The biosensor system is divided into two independent parts: a substrate providing structural support, housing, and fluidic pathways, and a separate biosensor chip containing the active sensing elements. This segmentation allows each component to be optimized independently - the substrate for mechanical strength and the biosensor chip for compactness and sensitivity.
Solution Approach 2:
A mounting structure with mounting elements acts as an intermediary between the substrate and the biosensor chip. This intermediary component provides mechanical support and stable positioning while maintaining the separation between the substrate and biosensor, enabling both structural integrity and device compactness.
2Manufacturing precision
If the biosensor uses a fixed substrate material to ensure manufacturing stability, then manufacturing precision is improved, but adaptability to different applications and materials deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The mounting structure with standardized mounting elements serves multiple functions: it provides mechanical support, enables positioning, and facilitates the integration of different biosensor chip types. This universal mounting mechanism allows the same substrate design to work with various biosensor chips made from different materials (silicon, glass, polymer) for different applications.
Solution Approach 2:
The mounting structure is pre-designed and fabricated on the substrate before the biosensor chip is attached. This preliminary action creates a standardized interface that simplifies subsequent biosensor chip integration and allows for easy replacement or upgrading of biosensor chips without redesigning the entire system.
3Device complexity
If the biosensor integrates electronic circuits and optical components on the same chip to reduce assembly steps, then device complexity is reduced, but manufacturing precision and reliability deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The biosensor chip is segmented into distinct functional areas: electronic circuits, optical components (waveguides, resonators), and fluidic interfaces. This segmentation allows each component type to be optimized and fabricated using appropriate processes while maintaining precise relative positioning through the chip's integrated design.
Solution Approach 2:
The biosensor chip merges electronic circuits, optical components, and fluidic pathways into a single integrated substrate. This merging reduces the number of separate components and assembly steps while maintaining manufacturing precision through co-fabrication processes that ensure accurate alignment and spacing between different functional elements.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The biosensor system achieves a compact design, increased material flexibility, and improved sensitivity by allowing integration with diverse carrier substrates and electronic devices, facilitating applications in fields like food diagnostics, environmental monitoring, and medical technology.
Implementation Method 1
at least one detector component that is arranged and configured for detecting whether the fluid sample reservoir accommodates a fluid sample that contains the target analyte and for providing an output signal indicative of whether the target analyte is present in the fluid sample
Data Source
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AI summary
The present invention relates to a biosensor system for detecting whether a target analyte is present in a fluid sample. The biosensor system comprises a carrier substrate and a biosensor. The carrier substrate has a carrier substrate front side and a carrier substrate back side and comprises a fluid sample reservoir that is accessible from the carrier substrate front side and configured for accommodating the fluid sample. The biosensor comprises a front-end-of-line, FEOL, and a back-end-of-line, BEOL. The biosensor is mounted with its FEOL in direct contact with the carrier substrate on the carrier substrate front side. The FEOL comprises at least one detector component that is arranged and configured for detecting whether the fluid sample reservoir accommodates a fluid sample that contains the target analyte and for providing an output signal indicative of whether the target analyte is present in the fluid sample.