A new smart chip with a miniaturized laboratory will enable autonomous liquid analysis
This technology offers the functions of a miniature laboratory and imitates the functioning of the human brain and sensory system to examine aqueous substances at any time and place. AiQUOS is the new spin-off of CSIC and the University of Zurich born to bring this technology to society.
The AiQUOS systems offer the advanced functionalities of a laboratory on a single chip to perform electrochemical analysis and precision control of aqueous substances wherever and whenever needed. This technology allows the integration of hundreds of multi-parametric sensors and artificial intelligence (AI)-based analysis on a single microchip with neuromorphic operation, i.e., inspired by the human senses and brain. AiQUOS S.L. is the new technology-based company, born from the Institute of Microelectronics of Barcelona (IMB-CNM-CSIC) and the Institute of Neuroinformatics of the University of Zurich (INI-UZH), which emerges to bring these devices to the market.
“It is the first neuromorphic microtechnology developed for continuous electrochemical analysis of aqueous substances,” says Josep Maria Margarit, the IMB-CNM researcher who led the innovation.
Current electrochemical sensing systems are characterized by being bulky, limited to a few fixed measurements, presenting a high cost of thousands of euros, requiring intensive manual maintenance, and running AI algorithms in the cloud. "Never to date have chips with electrochemical sensor arrays and neuro-inspired circuitry been developed for multimodal in situ perception. The joint integration of both functionalities endows the system with intelligence to adapt to environmental drifts and disturbances, as well as to interpret in a robust and personalized way the information from multiple sensors for the prediction of environmental, agri-food or health risks," adds the scientist, who is also co-founder of the company. All this is possible "in a single device that mimics the biological nervous mechanisms that provide sensing, learning and decision making with minimal consumption".
The system's capabilities allow its miniaturization and adaptation to any type of space, with energy and operating autonomy, and its massive and economical manufacture on silicon wafers - the semiconductor substrate on which the chips are integrated. The technology is currently being tested in control probes.
The company is testing this technology in monitoring probes for market launch. “We are incorporating the chips in probes for water monitoring, such as aquaculture production tanks or water treatment stations, thanks to previous and current collaborations with industrial partners such as IRTAmar and Aigües de Barcelona. The probes are designed to perform measurements without the need for calibration against signal variability due to aging and interferences of the measurement medium, and to generate early alarms for contamination,” explains Cecilia Jiménez, researcher at IMB-CNM-CSIC and co-founder. “The probe can be easily reconfigured to work in new locations for several weeks with the same chip and allows data transmission over an ethernet network, as an IoT (Internet of Things) device,” adds Jiménez.
The AiQUOS system, designed at IMB-CNM, is manufactured using the institute's Micro and Nanofabrication Clean Room, a Singular Scientific and Technical Infrastructure (ICTS) recognized by the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities.
Technology within society's reach
The AiQUOS technology is the result of a long international collaboration between IMB-CNM-CSIC and the University of Zurich. Its transfer to the spin-off has included another technology developed by the Integrated Circuits and Systems (ICAS) group of IMB-CNM and the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB). In the company, the team of founding partners are Josep Maria Margarit, Cecilia Jiménez and Francesc Serra, from IMB-CNM-CSIC; Shih-Chii Liu, from INI at the University of Zurich; and Aymen Jemni and Robert Mas, from the business area.
AiQUOS is one of the first spin-offs with CSIC participation created through a new procedure promoted by the CSIC's Vice-Presidency for Innovation and Transfer (VIT-CSIC). “It is based on the application of the reform of the Ley de la Ciencia, which gives the CSIC Presidency reinforced powers to streamline the organization's participation in spin-offs,“ says Isabel Gavilanes, technology transfer manager at the CSIC Delegation in Catalonia, involved in the process, which also ‘facilitates the involvement of its staff in the creation of new companies dedicated to valorizing the technologies they develop, thus overcoming the well-known ’valley of death”,” she adds.
With its implementation, "we hope to accelerate the transfer of knowledge to society and take a crucial step towards turning scientific advances into real and effective solutions," concludes Gavilanes.