COVID-19 Testing from an Image Sensor Designer's Perspective

IEEE Solid-State Circuits Society publishes InSilixa webinar "Mass deployable Molecular Diagnostics MDx, including COVID 19 Testing: An IC Designer's Perspective" by Arjang Hassibi:

"In the past year, the outbreak of COVID-19 has affected many lives globally. The suboptimal response to the pandemic revealed systematic deficiencies and gaps in our modern healthcare system. One specific area with consequential shortcomings was the diagnosis of infection and the pathogen, particularly the absence (or delayed deployment) of precision tests where and when needed. In this talk, we will discuss and review highly customized IC technologies, broadly defined, that have the potential to address this unmet need, specifically integrated biosensors and CMOS biochip systems. First, we will review the system-level requirements of molecular diagnostics (MDx) systems and explain how they identify the unique DNA/RNA sequences of the pathogen (e.g., COVID-19 one-hour PCR test) to detect infections while achieving appropriate clinical specificity and selectivity. Next, we will discuss in detail methods by which we can design and implement MDx sensors using IC technologies. We will provide specific examples, tradeoff analysis, and manufacturing options for realizing a true CMOS MDx biochip. At the end, we will list key challenges and potential opportunities in this field."