Towards a High-Throughput Electrical Biosensing Platform with EGFETs

Liquid-gated extended-gate Field-Effect Transistors (EGFETs) leverage the robustness and scalability of commercial CMOS technology while enabling direct interaction with (bio)chemical environments using an exposed electrode which is connected to the FET's gate. By post-processing commercial CMOS wafers we fabricated EGFET chips with varying EGFET dimensions. This internship focuses on the advanced electrical and electrochemical characterization of these liquid‑gated EGFET sensors, aiming to evaluate their potential as fully integrated biosensing platforms. More specifically, the detection of DNA hybridization, aptamer-target sensing or other bio-assays will be explored and the impact of different surface functionalization procedures on the sensitivity will be evaluated. During this project the student will electrically characterize the standard liquid‑gated FET IdVg characteristics, sensor stability and biosensing sensitivity across varying electrolyte conditions and surface functionalization protocols. The electrical measurements will be executed on a probe station while a microfluidic setup enables the automated exchange between different electrolyte conditions. Benchmarks include dose-response curves, drift, hysteresis, and noise characteristics. The project results will contribute to the development of a fully-integrated real-time biosensing platform. Type of internship : Master internship, PhD internship Duration : 6 months Required educational background : Nanoscience & Nanotechnology, Electrotechnics/Electrical Engineering, Bioscience Engineering, Chemistry/Chemical Engineering, Physics, Materials Engineering University promotor : Pol Van Dorpe (KU Leuven) Supervising scientist(s) : For further information or for application, please contact Koen Martens ( Koen.Martens@imec.be ) and Sybren Santermans ( Sybren.Santermans@imec.be ) The reference code for this position is 2026-INT-309 . Mention this reference code in your application. Imec allowance will be provided for students studying at a non-Belgian university. Applications should include the following information: resume motivation current study Incomplete applications will not be considered