Ultra-Low Power Ion-Sensing Smart Platform for Noninvasive Healthcare Applications

The development of nanotechnologies, and the advent of micro/nano-sensors with novel functionalities integrated on flexible substrates, has opened the way to the development of wearable technology. Interest in wearable technology comes from the considerable potential of this technology to tackle long-term health monitoring and implementing preventive care strategies. In particular, we are interested in a non-invasive device for hydration monitoring. Dehydration, is correlated with the concentration of various ionic concentration reflected in sweat. Thus, sweat can be used for continuous noninvasive physiological monitoring. In this project, we are proposing to implement an ultra-low power sweat sensing system by achieving heterogeneous integration of: 1) a sensing device based on advanced computing technology, 2) a miniaturized on-chip Ag/AgCl reference electrode, and 3) a wafer-compatible passive microfluidics. The full process for fabrication of this chip is achieved by standard semiconductor fabrication procedures. The targeted results in the first stages of this project were to measure the pH of a liquid using a miniaturized reference electrode and the acquisition of liquid through an inlet and displacing the substance to an outlet through capillary forces.