Infineon Technologies Describes World's First Biochip With Integrated Electronics for Evaluation and

Munich, Germany – 6. March 2002 – Infineon Technologies (FSE, NYSE: IFX) today released information on its development of the world’s first molecular test biochip with integrated evaluation electronics. The device potentially simplifies test procedures and offers efficiency and cost advantages in testing of nucleic acids and proteins in areas such as clinical diagnosis and individual patient medication.

Infineon has demonstrated that it can combine electronic circuitry for test analyses with biochemical test “wells” on a single silicon chip structure. This breakthrough achievement is a significant step in research to accelerate and optimize molecular-level analysis. Infineon expects that the laboratory tests of the electronic biochips will commence in approximately one year.

128 test tubes on a chip

The test biochips fabricated by Infineon measure approximately one quarter of a square centimeter. Each biochip contains 128 homogeneous “wells” that are 100 microns (one tenth of a millimeter) in diameter. Biological mini-probes can be linked to these wells, effectively allowing 128 miniaturized different tests on a chip. The electronic circuits fabricated on the same chip are used to replace optical analysis of samples with measurements of electric currents depending on the test samples’ properties. The result is a test apparatus that is smaller and less complex than optical systems.

The biochip has the potential to make medical diagnosis in hospitals and in medical practices less costly, faster, and more efficient. In the long-term, biochips open up new applications, such as determining whether or not a patient has adverse reactions to a medication.

On-chip analysis and evaluation

The Infineon biochip is fabricated on a standard Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) technology extended with additional process steps to form sensor electrodes made of gold. Silicon as basis material allows the integration of electronic circuitry for signal amplification and evaluation within the chip. Infineon’s success in integrating the gold electrodes on chip, without affecting the CMOS structures, is a process technology breakthrough. For the first time, standard CMOS production methods can be used to produce biochips with “built-in” analysis capability.

”Our core competency in all aspects related to the silicon basic material, such as microstructures, circuit development and process technologies, is leading to the opening of a new market area,“ said Soenke Mehrgardt, Chief Technology Officer at Infineon Technologies. „Development of these technologies leads to low-cost semiconductor-based biochip solutions to help realize the potential to simplify, improve, make cheaper and speed up medical diagnosis.”

Testing and evaluation methods of biochips

With on-chip electronic analysis testing method, specific enzymes are added to the probes to be tested. These enzymes are able to split another substance, which has been added in a separate step, into electronically active components. This chemical procedure creates an electrical current of 1 pA (one millionth of a millionth Ampere) to 100 nA (one tenth of a millionth Ampere) at the sensor gold electrodes, which is measured with highly sensitive circuits. The timeline and intensity of the electrical current identifies the composition and concentration of the tested substance.

In today’s optical techniques, unknown gene sequences are loaded onto a biochip after first having been tagged with a fluorescent dye emitting light of a particular wave length when irradiated. During the tests, a specific charge-coupled-camera (CCD) reads the light patterns emitted. These light patterns explain the composition of the substances tested.

The biochip with integrated electronic circuitry demonstrates the innovative strength of Infineon. In January 2002, two of the company’s semiconductor products were named as Best Technological Innovation 2001 and recipients of an Innovation Award from the “Deutscher Wirtschaftsclub Rhein-Main”, the German Trade and Industry Group.