BioMEMS

CASE and its industrial partners are developing a new class of biosensors using carbon and polymer based micro-eletromechanical systems (MEMS). This technology has the promise of being fast, very selective, and inexpensive in the detection of biohazards in air, water, or, directly in the bloodstream. CASE is testing microcantilevers, bridges and other MEMS devices for biosensors made from materials that are carbon based and consistent with living biological systems and chemistries. This biologically compatible carbon and polymer based MEMS technology can be made as sensitive as current fluorescent techniques without the need for fluorescein-doped antibodies, thereby, reducing the number of steps required for detection. Using microlithography, CASE can make hundreds and thousands of individual detectors in an array, vastly increasing the signal to noise ratio, and consequently the selectivity of the CPMEMS array sensor. The CPMEMS technology we have developed is unique and patented using inexpensive and relatively common processing techniques.

The CASE MEMS biological detection technology is based on a micro-bridge (or cantilever) array fabricated using standard microlithographic processes. When a biological threat antigen binds to the receptor molecule attached to the carbon rich surface of the CPMEMS, corresponding changes in the vibration properties of the CPMEMS surface are electronically measured and converted into an alarm signal. This system will be fast, selective, inexpensive and can operate in an unattended mode.

IR Focal Plane Arrays

CASE and its industrial partners have designed and demonstrated the feasibility of forming thin-film, uncooled infrared focal plane array sensors for use in night and smoke vision cameras. Infra-red (IR) cameras have been broadly applied in military applications to measure infrared and temperature signals. To make these measurements useful, the signal is typically converted to a usable output such as temperature readout or visual image display for use in night vision, security systems, smart munitions and IR cameras. The unique CASE bolometric sensors are synthesized by ion implanting a polymer through a thin metal layer. The sensors are designed for use in the long wavelength infrared (LWIR) region, 8 - 12 microns. For bolometeric sensors operating in this region, the thermal isolation structure is essential to efficient and sensitive operation. The major advantages of the CASE system include: high thermal isolation achieved by thin carbon rich layers suspended by organic or inorganic pillars, high speed response caused by a low heat capacity in the 700 - 1000 Å thermally isolated absorption layer, high uniformity resulting from using standard microlithographic methods.

Chem/Bio Sensor Materials

Current airborne threat detection technologies require complex test methods (i.e. typically enzymes, fluorescence or radioactivity-based systems) and sophisticated measurement equipment that is not practical for point of service or in the field measurements. CASE has developed a method of biological and chemical detection based upon the ability to detect the binding of an agent to a capture-binding molecule such as an antibody or oligonucleotide on a microsensor array fabricated using standard integrated circuit methods. The chem/bio threat is detected through the binding of an agent to the binding molecule and the resultant morphology change and stress on an underlying, isolated, semi-conducting surface. The surface stress from the binding morphology change generates an immediate electrical signal resulting in a high specificity and sensitivity measurement. This electrical signal is processed immediately to produce either a qualitative or quantitative read-out of the agent in real time. This CASE point of service microsensor array detector will be easy to use, flexible in either a single or multiple test formats, and will have the ability to perform under a diversity of field conditions including military, paramilitary or commercial assay applications.