Luca Capua | EPFL Graph Search

Luca Capua was born in Savona (Italy) in 1994. He obtained a Bachelor's Degree in Physics Engineering from Politecnico di Torino, and he graduated in 2018 with a joint master’s degree in Micro and Nanotechnologies for Integrated Systems from EPFL, Politecnico di Torino, and Grenoble INP. After completing his Master's Thesis on the study of electrochemical sensors for liquid recognition at IBM Research - Zurich, he joined the Nanolectronic Devices Laboratory in October 2018, to work on the fabrication and characterization of FET-based biosensors for cardiac biomarkers detection.

Label-Free C-Reactive Protein Si Nanowire FET Sensor Arrays With Super-Nernstian Back-Gate Operation

Luca Capua, Ron Gill, Aristea Grammoustianou, Mihai Adrian Ionescu, Felix Risch, Yann Christophe Sprunger

We present a CMOS-compatible double gate and label-free C-reactive protein (CRP) sensor, based on silicon on insulator (SOI) silicon nanowires arrays. We exploit a reference subtracted detection method and a super-Nernstian internal amplification given by the double gate structure. We overcome the Debye screening of charged CRP proteins in solutions using antibodies fragments as capturing probes, reducing the overall thickness of the capture layer. We demonstrate the internal amplification through the pH response of the sensor, in static and real-time working modes. While operated in back-gate configuration, the sensor shows excellent stability (

IEEE-INST ELECTRICAL ELECTRONICS ENGINEERS INC2022

Extended gate field-effect-transistor for sensing cortisol stress hormone

Sayedeh Shirin Afyouni Akbari, Luca Capua, Hoël Maxime Guérin, Mihai Adrian Ionescu, Sadegh Kamaei Bahmaei, Shokoofeh Sheibani, Junrui Zhang

Cortisol is a hormone released in response to stress and is a major glucocorticoid produced by adrenal glands. Here, we report a wearable sensory electronic chip using label-free detection, based on a platinum/graphene aptamer extended gate field effect transistor (EG-FET) for the recognition of cortisol in biological buffers within the Debye screening length. The device shows promising experimental features for real-time monitoring of the circadian rhythm of cortisol in human sweat. We report a hysteresis-free EG-FET with a voltage sensitivity of the order of 14 mV/decade and current sensitivity up to 80% over the four decades of cortisol concentration. The detection limit is 0.2 nM over a wide range, between 1 nM and 10 mu M, of cortisol concentrations in physiological fluid, with negligible drift over time and high selectivity. The dynamic range fully covers those in human sweat. We propose a comprehensive analysis and a unified, predictive analytical mapping of current sensitivity in all regimes of operation. Wearable, real-time devices that can monitor hormones are important for personalized healthcare. Here, a platinum/graphene aptamer extended gate field effect transistor is shown to detect cortisol, the primary stress hormone, in physiological fluid.

SPRINGERNATURE2021

Gate energy efficiency and negative capacitance in ferroelectric 2D/2D TFET from cryogenic to high temperatures

Luca Capua, Matteo Cavalieri, Carlotta Gastaldi, Mihai Adrian Ionescu, Sadegh Kamaei Bahmaei, Teodor Rosca, Ali Saeidi

We report the fabrication process and performance characterization of a fully integrated ferroelectric gate stack in a WSe2/SnSe2 Tunnel FETs (TFETs). The energy behavior of the gate stack during charging and discharging, together with the energy loss of a switching cycle and gate energy efficiency factor are experimentally extracted over a broad range of temperatures, from cryogenic temperature (77 K) up to 100 degrees C. The obtained results confirm that the linear polarizability is maintained over all the investigated range of temperature, being inversely proportional to the temperature T of the ferroelectric stack. We show that a lower-hysteresis behavior is a sine-qua-non condition for an improved energy efficiency, suggesting the high interest in a true NC operation regime. A pulsed measurement technique shows the possibility to achieve a hysteresis-free negative capacitance (NC) effect on ferroelectric 2D/2D TFETs. This enables sub-15 mV dec(-1) point subthreshold slope, 20 mV dec(-1) average swing over two decades of current, I-ON of the order of 100 nA mu m(-2) and I-ON/I-OFF > 10(4) at V-d = 1 V. Moreover, an average swing smaller than 10 mV dec(-1) over 1.5 decades of current is also obtained in a NC TFET with a hysteresis of 1 V. An analog current efficiency factor, up to 50 and 100 V-1, is achieved in hysteresis-free NC-TFETs. The reported results highlight that operating a ferroelectric gate stack steep slope switch in the NC may allow combined switching energy efficiency and low energy loss, in the hysteresis-free regime.

NATURE PORTFOLIO2021