Spintronic terahertz sensing of biological molecules based on CMOS controllable metamaterials

Abstract:

The sensing and detection of the biomolecule Terahertz(THz) spectrum fingerprint is performed based on Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor(CMOS) controllable metamaterials, using a Spintronic THz Emitter device. The spintronic THz spectrum fingerprint of three different biological samples were benchmarked with results using THz photoconductive antennas. The results show that the feasibility of measuring biological samples with spin terahertz source is verified. At the same time, a frequency based biomolecular THz sensing scheme is proposed by utilizing CMOS controllable metamaterials. Finite element models are built based on the performance test and the biosensing process of the CMOS controllable metamaterial devices. Five CMOS controllable metamaterials were designed with center frequencies related to the absorption peaks of the biomolecules under test. The simulation results show that the resonance frequency has a red shift with the increase of voltage, and the maximum red shift is up to 40 GHz. This paper provides experimental and theoretical foundations for building miniaturized and integrated biomolecular THz sensing systems.