Imec and Genalyte have successfully developed and produced a set of disposable SOI-photonics biosensor chips for Genalyte‘s diagnostic and molecular detection equipment. Founded by SOI-photonics innovator Dr. Cary Gunn, Genalyte chips contain ring resonator sensors for very sensitive molecular detection; on-chip grating couples infrared light to diagnostic equipment.

ST’s latest BCD shows how SOI yet again enables huge reductions in power consumption. What if you had to reduce power dissipation by 40x? That’s exactly the task that fell to ST, under an EU program called Smart Power Management. At the recent ISPSD (International Symposium on Power Semiconductor Devices and ICs) conference, STMicroelectronics and …

STMicroelectronics’ SOI-BCD6 technology combines low-voltage CMOS logic, precise analog circuitry and robust power stages on the same ultrasound pulse controller chip. By integrating the transmit/receive switch, the STHV748 minimizes the number of external components required in applications such as stationary and portable ultrasound scanners, giving medical designers further miniaturization and cost reduction.

IBM’s recent SOI news: • As reported in Nature, the nanophotonic avalanche photodetector is the fastest of its kind and could enable breakthroughs in energy-efficient computing that can have significant implications for the future of electronics. • IBM scientists have created a one-step point-of-care-diagnostic test, that requires less sample volume, is significantly faster, portable, easy …

Hitachi’s latch-up-free, SOI-based chips enable new generations of compact medical ultrasound systems. Medical challenge Ultrasound systems need to be smaller, more cost-effective, and higher performance – without compromising reliability. Design challenge Ultrasound is based on high-voltage pulses that drive transducers, which create and receive bursts of sound waves. Low-power, high-performance electronics control a complex set …

UCL researchers leverage SOI in a powerful, affordable sensor design. Medical challenge In pharmacology, medical diagnostics or security applications, sensors that detect micro-nano-objects like biomolecules, cancer markers or infectious agents need to be faster, smarter and more sensitive, but also more affordable. Design challenge There are many different approaches to integrated sensor-on-a-chip design, but basically …

“ Battery-operated, implantable medical devices such as pacemakers need to minimize energy consumption in order to decrease battery (hence, implant) size and maximize the time until implant substitution is required. SOI technology, particularly FD-SOI, has several advantages for these systems in terms of analog and digital ultra-low-power operation, as well as ease of implementation of …

Nanosens is producing SOI-based nanowire chips (NWCs), ready for applications such as nanosensing that detect bio-chemical entities (single viruses and bacteria, DNA/sequence variations, small molecule protein interactions) down to the molecular level at room temperature in realtime. For more information, go to www.nanosens.nl

“Currently at Leti, we use SOI in health-related research more for dimensional requirements than intrinsic electrical properties. For example, reproducibility in the cavity size (z-axis) is of prime importance for dilution and biological protocols. Some specific studies in capacitive detection, however, do leverage the electrical advantages of SOI.”

Developed for use in high energy particle physics, applications for KEK’s new SOIPIX technology can also extend to medical imaging. Medical challenge The medical community is looking to tools developed for particle physics to solve a host of diagnostic and therapeutic challenges. On the diagnostic side, digital X-ray systems with semiconductor radiation detectors (in which …