Fully integrated temperature regulator for biochemical applications

Abstract

The invention is an integrated temperature regulator that can be fabricated using conventional semiconductor processing technology. The integrated temperature regulator can include a reaction chamber, for example fabricated from PDMS, in which chemical or biochemical reactions of interest can be carried out. The temperature regular can also be used to regulate the temperature of some circuits, e.g. an effective-inductance-change based magnetic particle sensor, to achieve a stable operation performance, such as an improved sensitivity. The integrated temperature regulator includes as subcomponents a temperature sensing circuit that receives a thermal signal from the vicinity of the reaction chamber, a temperature reference circuit, and a temperature control circuit that controls a heater based at least in part on the difference between the sensed temperature and the reference temperature. The various subcomponents can be programmable.