Abstract: Research into new pH sensors fabricated by the standard CMOS process is currently a hot topic. The new pH sensing multi-floating gate field effect transistor is found to have a very large threshold voltage, which is different from the normal ion-sensitive field effect transistor. After analyzing all the interface layers of the structure, a new sensitive model based on the Gauss theorem and the charge neutrality principle is created in this paper. According to the model, the charge trapped on the multi-floating gate during the process and the thickness of the sensitive layer are the main causes of the large threshold voltage. From this model, it is also found that removing the charge on the multi-floating gate is an effective way to decrease the threshold voltage. The test results for three different standard pH buffer solutions show the correctness of the model and point the way to solve the large threshold problem.

Key words: pH sensor