A Portable CMOS Based pH Sensor

(Invited Paper)
Shaghayegh Aslanzadeh, Matthew Smalley, Ava Hedayatipour, and Nicole McFarlane
Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, 37996
Email: saslanza@vols.utk.edu

Abstract—This paper demonstrates a portable pH sensing

system which converts pH to a digital readout. The system
consists of a CMOS ISFET pH sensor with discrete analog to
digital conversion and display modules. The front end sensor
was fabricated in standard 0.5 µm CMOS technology and an
easy to use Arduino microcontroller is used as the computing
device. Measurement results have reasonable agreements with
the simulations. The average sensitivity in simulation is 46
mV/pH and it is 42 mV/pH based on experimentally extracted
capacitance parameters. The design uses a differential ISFET
readout circuit with 12 µW of power consumption at 2 V and
80 µW of power consumption at 5 V. The portable sensor
implemented is 10cm × 16cm, while the main ISFET front end
readout occupies a chip area of 0.0093 mm2 . This portable device
is suitable for environmental and biomedical applications.

Index Terms—ISFET, pH sensor, biochemical, voltage- Fig. 1. Cross-section of an ion sensitive field effect transistor. Ions on the
clamped, portable device, analog to digital converter. chemically sensitive passivation layer modulate the I-V characteristic of the
transistor.

I. I NTRODUCTION
Today pH sensing, is important in many areas such as
environmental applications e.g. water quality monitoring, and
biochemical and medical applications e.g. determining glucose
levels from sweat. There are many benefits using CMOS
technology. These include developing small, portable, low-
power, and low-cost devices. Miniaturization and wireless
connectivity have seen the bulkiest of devices shrink down
to an unfathomable sizes, allowing complex and life-changing
technology to become portable. The ion-sensitive field-effect
transistor, or ISFET, originally developed in the 1970s, has
largely paved the way for this area of research [1]. While
other pH sensing devices, such as the ion-sensitive electrodes
(ISE), exist and are used today, the ISFET is smaller, cheaper,
and more robust than its ISE counterpart [2]–[4].
An ISFET is a MOSFET where pH-dependent charges are
capacitively coupled through a chemically sensitive insulating
material to the gate of the transistor. The cross-section of an
ISFET is shown in Fig. 1. The native oxi-nitride passivation
layer of the CMOS process acts as the chemically sensitive
layer, and the top metal layer is connected to the gate terminal,
but is left floating. The channel current is thus controlled by
any charged species present at the interface.
CMOS ISFET implementation challenges arise due to a
number of non-idealities. Trapped charges on the floating gate,
threshold voltage instability, capacitive attenuation, tempera-
ture effects, and noise corruption can all cause deviation of
the measured current [5]. Solutions, such as exposure to UV
radiation, can be used to remove trapped charges and bridge-
type floating source circuits can be implemented to improve
temperature compensation and stability [6]–[8].
There are a number of different topologies suitable for
implementing ISFET readout circuits. These circuit topologies
include constant-voltage constant-current (CVCC), current
mode, voltage clamp, and pH to time or frequency structures
[5], [9], [10]. Any of these structures may be implemented
in single ended or differential topologies. The differential
structure may use a reference sensor that is insensitive to
pH, however this requires post processing or the use of two
chips [11]. Alternatively, to eliminate the need for this post
processing, two ISFETS with different top metal areas can be
used [4], [8]. They can also be implemented as a portable
system with display [12].
In this paper, the design, and experimental measurements
of a fully portable pH measurement system based on a
differential voltage-clamp topology is presented. The novelty
of this paper lies in developing a prototype of a portable pH
sensor comprised of a differential voltage-clamped ISFET with
two different electrode sizes, ADC, and an Arduino Uno in a
portable package.
This paper is organized as follows. In section II the proposed
system is described. Section III summarizes the results, and
the conclusion is given in section IV.

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 III. S IMULATION AND E XPERIMENTAL R ESULTS
The pH sensor front end was fabricated in 0.5 µm CMOS
technology. α = 0.95 and γ = −324mV were used in the
simulations based on literature and prior experiments [13]. The
passivation layer capacitance per unit area in simulations was
estimated as 0.00287 fF/µm2 . This agrees with an estimated
capacitance per unit area of 0.00226 fF/µm2 which was
extracted from experimental I-V characteristics of a fabricated
standalone ISFET using standard pH solutions of 4, 7, and 10
and a reference voltage of 0.9 V.
Fig. 2. ISFET macro-model. CGouy is the Gouy-Chapman layer capacitance,
CHelm is the Helmholtz layer capacitance, and CP ass is the passivation layer Three different chips, have been tested. A Keithley source
capacitance. meter was used to sweep the input voltages. The differential
structure was electrically characterized over the whole power
supply range from 0 to 2 V. For initial measurements, Input1
II. P ROPOSED C IRCUIT D ESIGN was swept from 0 to 2 V while Input2 was kept constant at 1.5
V. Then, Input1 is kept constant and Input2 is swept from 0
The ISFET model is shown in Fig. 2. The voltage at the to 2 V. Note that this particular experiment and sensitivity
gate of the ISFET, VF G is [13], calculation assumes one of the electrodes has been made
0 insensitive to pH. Simulation and experimental measurements
Cpass ×A
VF G = × (VRef − VChem ) (1) are illustrated in Figs. 4 and 5. Three different chips were
0
Cpass × A + Ceox electrically characterized. The current in transistors M1 and
0
M7 are,
where Cpass is the passivation layer capacitance per unit area, 1
Iout2 = Kn1 (Input2 − VT N )2 (3)
A is the top metal area, Ceox is the oxide capacitance at the 2
floating node, and Vref is an externally supplied reference 1
Iout2 = Kp7 (VGS7 − VT P )2 (4)
voltage. Vchem is the chemical voltage given by, 2
Equating the currents gives,
Vchem = γ + αSN pH (2)
Kn1
(VGS7 − VT P )2 = × (Input2 − VT N )2 (5)
where γ is a constant chemical term, SN is the Nernstian Kp7
sensitivity (typically 59 mV/pH), and α is a number from 0 The currents in M4 , M5 , and M8 are,
to 1. 1
Iout1 = Kn4 (Input1 − VT N )2 (1 + λ4 VG6 ) (6)
Fig. 3 shows the system design. The front end differential 2
circuit consists of two ISFETS with different sizes of the top 1
Iout1 = Kn5 (Vout − VG6 − VT N )2 (1 + λ5 (VD8 − VG6 )) (7)
metal electrodes. The use of two different gate areas eliminates 2
the need for expensive post processing of a reference ISFET 1
Iout1 = Kp8 (VGS8 − VT P )2 (1 + λ8 (VD5 − VDD )) (8)
while still allowing a differential measurement. Transistors, 2
M2-M3 and M5-M6 form the core voltage clamping circuit. The drain voltage of M4 , which is the gate of M6 is,
M3 and M6 are biased with a constant current source which
is implemented using a resistor and current mirror. The drain 2Iout1 1
VG6 = − (9)
voltage of the ISFET is fixed and the drain current (Iout1) λ4 Kn4 (Input1 − VT N )2 λ4
and (Iout2) of the ISFET corresponds to the ion changes in the Since VGS7 = VGS8 , the output voltage is,
solutions near the top metal connected to the gate of transistors
M1 and M4. r
Kn1 (Input2−VT N )2 (1+λ8 (VD8 −VDD ))
Vout = 2Iout1 λ + VT N
The output of the front end sensor is sent to an Ana- Kn5 (1+λ5 (VD8 −
λ4 Kn4 (Input1−VT N )2
+ λ5 ))
4
log Devices instrumentation amplifier (AMP03). An op-amp
2Iout1 1
(TLC272) with a 1 kΩ resistor transfers the value of the output + λ4 Kn 2 − λ4
4 (Input1−VT N )
voltage to the ADC (ADC0801). This op-amp functions as a (10)
buffer and trims the offset voltage. The capacitor (C1) used where Kn and Kp are the transconductor parameters, λ is the
is 150 pF. An Arduino Uno is used as the microcontroller to channel length modulation parameter, VT N/T P is the threshold
convert the output voltage to a pH (using equation 1) and voltage, VD is the drain voltage, and VGS is the gate to source
display the value on an LCD. A 5 V supply powers the voltage. Input1 and Input2 are functions of the electrode area
Arduino and other discrete components. The front end sensor and the pH (i.e. VF G from equation (1)). The total current
can operate on a supply ranging from 0.9 V to 5 V. R1 and from the power supply is 6.4 µA.
R2 were implemented as off-chip resistors. RG, R3, and R4 The design uses two different sizes of the top metal elec-
are all 1 kΩ resistors. trodes for each of the ISFETs. To characterize the projected

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 (a) (b) (c)
Fig. 3. (a) ISFET sensor where the front end relies on two different top metal electrode sizes (10µm × 10µm and 80µm × 80µm), and a differential
voltage-clamp topology. (b) The output is amplified, buffered, digitized, and displayed using discrete electronics. (c) Picture of the PCB implementation
showing the ISFET sensor front end chip and discrete electronics for display.

TABLE I
VOLTAGE AND C ORRESPONDING P H

pH Input1 Input2 pH Input1 Input2

(mV) (mV) (mV) (mV)
1 1110.55 1157.31 8 744.8 776.16
2 1058.3 1102.86 9 692.55 721.71
3 1006.05 1048.41 10 640.3 667.26
4 953.8 993.96 11 588.05 612.81
5 901.55 939.96 12 535.8 558.36
6 849.3 885.06 13 483.55 503.91
7 797.05 830.61 14 431.3 449.46

Fig. 4. Experimental results for VDD=2 V with VF G2 held constant.

Fig. 5. Experimental results for VDD=2 V with VF G1 held constant.
performance, the inputs are swept simultaneously with differ-
ent voltages. The supply voltage is 2 V and Vref is 0.9 V. To
cover the pH 1 to 14 range, Input1 was swept from 431.3-
1110.55 mV, while Input2 was swept from 449.3-1157.31 mV
(Fig. 6). The x-axis of this plot is calculated from equations (1)
and (2) and experimental measurements of ISFET transistors
fabricated in this technology. The calculated values of the
voltages and corresponding pH is shown in Table I. This
experiment also used VDD=5 V and Vref of 0.9 V (Fig. 7).
The sensitivity is determined from the average slope of the
best fit lines to be 42 mV/pH and 71 mV/pH for VDD of 2
V and 5 V, respectively. The differential structure of circuit
improves the linearity and immunity to environmental noise.
The output voltage from this chip is sent to the instrumen-
tation amplifier, ADC, and finally the microcontroller to be
displayed on an LCD. The final PCB board with the pho-
tomicrograph of the fabricated chip is shown in Fig. 3c. This
portable PCB board has the total area of 10 cm × 16 cm with
the fabricated ISFET of 0.0093 mm2 . Further size decrease
can also be obtained by eliminating the DIP package of the
front end sensor. Also, in order to power the Arduino, instead
of using a USB connection to the laptop, we can use a 6
VDC battery (A544, Alkaline, Button, 140 mAh) which will
last approximately 4.5 hours.
Finally the comparison between this design and other recent
sensors is illustrated in Table II. This design is prototype of
a portable pH sensor with using voltage clamp structure and
different sizes of the gate electrode that has the advantage
of eliminating expensive post processing. Thus, the proposed
design is cost effective. The front end sensor is fabricated in
0.5 µm CMOS process. The power consumption is 12 µW
with supply voltage of 2 V and 80 µW with supply voltage
of 5 V. The designed chip is 0.0093 mm2 which is more area
efficient in comparison to others. With using two different
supply voltages (2 V and 5 V), the sensitivity is 42 mV/pH
and 71 mV/pH, respectively. We expect process variation to
have an effect on the sensitivity as well.
IV. C ONCLUSION
The design, fabrication, and experimental results of a
portable pH sensor based on differential voltage clamping has

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 TABLE II
C OMPARISON W ITH S TATE OF THE A RT

[3] [4] [6] [7] [11] [12] This Work

Technology (nm) 350 130 180 350 180 350 500
ISFET Topology Current-mode Differential Dual-mode pixel CVCC Differential Current-mode Differential
CVCC CVCC voltage-clamped
pH Range 6.6-8.6 1-14 1-14 2-12 - 1-14 1-14
ISFET Sensitivity - 35 (mV/pH) 26.2 (mV/pH) 51.7 (mV/pH) 9.7 (mV/pH) 1.03 (µA/pH) 42 (mV/pH) @Vdd=2V
71 (mV/pH) @Vdd=5V
ISFET Front End Power 16.6 µW 1.2 µW - 50 µW - 660 µW 12 µW @Vdd=2V
80 µW @Vdd=5V
ISFET Front End Current 10 nA 1 µA - 100 µA 97 nA - 6.4 µA @Vdd=2V
16.2 µA @Vdd=5V
Total System Power - - 105 mW - 176 nW - 100 mW
Front End Area (mm2 ) 0.187 0.0128 0.409 0.858 1.45 1.06 0.0093
Complete Portable System No No No No Yes Yes Yes

This portable pH sensor is suitable for environmental and

Fig. 6. Experimental results for three different chips for VDD=2 V.
Fig. 7. Experimental results for three different chips for VDD=5 V.
been presented. The sensor has been fabricated in 0.5 µm
standard CMOS process. The ISFET front end sensing circuit
consumes a power of 12 µW with 2 V of supply voltage and
80 µW with 5 V of supply voltage. Experimental testing has
shown that the results are in agreement with simulation results.
The sensitivity is 42 mV/pH and 71 mV/pH for VDD of 2 V
and 5 V. The USB powered sensor consumes 100 mW of
power with an area of 10cm × 16cm. The entire setup costs
less than $20 which is inexpensive. The price can be further
reduced (to less than $1/chip) by integrating the processor on
the same chip with the front end sensor to take advantage
of the low cost per unit afforded by bulk CMOS fabrication.
biomedical applications.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This material is in part based upon work supported by the
National Science Foundation under Grant No. 1816703.
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