Systems, devices, and methods are presented that facilitate electronic manipulation and detection of submicron particles. A particle manipulation device contains a plurality of electrodes formed on an active semiconductor layer of an integrated circuit chip, where the electrodes and gap spacing between adjacent electrodes is submicron in size. The chip is oriented with its substrate face up, and at least a portion of the substrate is removed from the chip so the electrodes are in close proximity to a fluid chamber(s) placed over the chip, to facilitate manipulation of particles, contained in a buffer solution in the fluid chamber(s), to form a defined pattern. Innovative macro-scale optical detection is employed to detect the submicron particles, where a light beam is applied to the defined pattern, and interaction of the defined pattern with the light beam is detected and evaluated to facilitate detecting the particles.