Development of Organic Transistor Based Smart, Low-cost and Disposable Chemical and Biological Sensor Devices

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The proposed research program will have significant impact in realizing low-cost, low-power organic electronic devices, smart, disposable sensory microsystems, and will contribute to several emerging application domains of organic semiconductor devices. The long-term vision is to establish the ideal configuration of organic transistor microsystems through iterative design and fabrication process, judicious selection of polymer-based materials and the development of a physical model correlating transistor characteristics with detectable sensory responses. The short-term goals encompass: 1) numerical estimation and physical characterization of the electrical and mechanical properties of the developed organic transistors; 2) investigation of optimal microfabrication techniques for low-cost, direct-patterning of organic semiconductors and polymer-based high-K nanocomposite dielectric materials; and 3) design, fabrication and experimental validation of prototype organic electro-chemical transistor (O-ECT) devices for active sensing applications. The emphasis will be to integrate organic-transistors in novel monolithic and hybrid configurations, for detecting chemical analytes and physical variables, for potential chemical, biological and environmental sensing applications. Establishing collaborations with industry, non-profit partners, and national and international research groups, the program will place emphasis on implementing O-ECTs as chemical and biological sensors, training a total of 2 PhD, 3 MASc and 4 undergraduate students at the Organic Semiconductor Lab. The proposed research program will train HQPs in micro/nanofabrication and characterization, implementing copolymer semiconductor, conductor and dielectric materials for organic electronics, developing novel protocols for low-cost, in-house production of O-ECT, characterization of O-ECT devices and resultant lab-on-a-chip microsystems. The research program is motivated by the opportunity for Canada to become a world-leader in such emerging smart sensor technologies and the research program links well with both the provincial and federal mandates of pioneering research in this domain. There is an urgent need for HQP trained in developing smart, autonomous and low-cost sensory devices, which can facilitate continuous measurement of physical and chemical analytes in many different conformations. I am requesting the DND/NSERC supplement as the research program addresses the 'Advanced Sensing' target area, and more specifically the Chemical-Biological-Radiological Sensing' research theme. The developed sensors will offer desirable versatility in form factor, and can be attached as patches on uniforms, printed as logos on helmets, and secured onto eye-wear frames for detection of hazardous chemical agents, as well as monitoring bio-markers for rapid diagnosis.