A Handheld High-Sensitivity Micro-NMR CMOS Platform With B-Field Stabilization for Multi-Type Biological/Chemical Assays

We report a micro-nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) system compatible with multi-type biological/chemical lab-on-a- chip assays. Unified in a handheld scale (dimension: 14 x 6 x 11 cm(3), weight: 1.4 kg), the system is capable to detect < 100 pM of Enterococcus faecalis derived DNA from a 2.5 mu L sample. The key components are a portable magnet (0.46 T, 1.25 kg) for nucleus magnetization, a system PCB for I/O interface, an FPGA for system control, a current driver for trimming the magnetic (B) field, and a silicon chip fabricated in 0.18 mu m CMOS. The latter, integrated with a current-mode vertical Hall sensor and a low-noise readout circuit, facilitates closed-loop B-field stabilization (2 mT -> 0.15 mT), which otherwise fluctuates with temperature or sample displacement. Together with a dynamic-B-field transceiver with a planar coil for micro-NMR assay and thermal control, the system demonstrates: 1) selective biological target pinpointing; 2) protein state analysis; and 3) solvent-polymer dynamics, suitable for healthcare, food and colloidal applications, respectively. Compared to a commercial NMR-assay product (Bruker mq-20), this platform greatly reduces the sample consumption (120x), hardware volume (175x), and weight (96x).