An overview of Si-based biosensors

The biosensors have been widely applied to the measurement both in vitro and in vivo. The progresses on the miniaturization, the integration of intelligent biosensors during the last decade were reviewed. Due to the introduction of new technologies and the emerging of new materials, the biosensors became smaller while the performances turn to better. To establish or develop a biosensor, the investigations on design, fabrication, testing methods and application are necessary and essential. Lots of issues of the biosensors, such as the reliability and the long-term stability, need to be concerned. Recently, the integration between the biosensors and IC technology has been carried out and led to the generation of microbiosensors. For example, MEMS technology has been proven to be a powerful tool to fabricate the miniaturized Clark oxygen sensor and the other biosensors. As a new material, porous silicon (PS) exhibits its tremendous capability to immobilize biomolecules such as enzymes DNAs and etc., which is one of key problem to develop biosensors and biochips. This paper will give a brief review about the above-mentioned research fields of silicon-based biosensors.