Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-r5fsc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T15:09:58.152Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

High Sensitivity Sensor Based on Porous Silicon Waveguide

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 February 2011

Guoguang Rong ,
Jarkko J. Saarinen ,
John E. Sipe  and
Sharon M. Weiss
Guoguang Rong
Affiliation:
[email protected], Vanderbilt University, Electrical Engineering, VU Station B #351824, 2301 Vanderbilt Place, Nashville, TN, 37235-1824, United States, 615-343-8311, 615-343-6702
Jarkko J. Saarinen
Affiliation:
[email protected], University of Toronto, Department of Physics and Institute for Optical Sciences, 60 St. George Street, Toronto, Ontario, M5S 1A7, Canada
John E. Sipe
Affiliation:
[email protected], University of Toronto, Department of Physics and Institute for Optical Sciences, 60 St. George Street, Toronto, Ontario, M5S 1A7, Canada
Sharon M. Weiss
Affiliation:
[email protected], Vanderbilt University, Electrical Engineering, VU Station B #351824, 2301 Vanderbilt Place, Nashville, TN, 37235-1824, United States
Get access

Abstract

Porous silicon (PSi) waveguides are fabricated as a new platform for high sensitivity biosensors. Biomolecules infiltrated into the PSi waveguide increase the effective refractive index of the waveguide and change the angle at which incident light couples into a waveguide mode. Due to the high surface area to volume ratio of PSi and the confinement of optical energy in the region where the biomolecules reside, the waveguide resonance is very sensitive to small concentrations of infiltrated molecular species. A resonance width below 0.1° has been obtained, which is sufficient to detect one monolayer of DNA covering the pore walls. In this work, a prism is used for the waveguide coupling in an arrangement that is similar to traditional surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensing. Theoretical analysis suggests that an optimized PSi waveguide resonant sensor will show a 60-fold improvement in sensitivity when compared to a conventional SPR sensor due to the enhanced interaction between the electromagnetic field and biological material.

Keywords

sensorSinanoscale
Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 934: Symposium I – Silicon-Based Microphotonics , 2006 , 0934-I10-04
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2006

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 Homola, J., Yee, S. S and Gauglitz, G., Sens. Actuators B: Chem. 54, 3 (1999).Google Scholar
2 Szmacinski, H. and Lakowicz, J. R, Sens. Actuators B: Chem. 29, 16 (1995).Google Scholar
3 Cunningham, B., Li, P., Lin, B., and Pepper, J., Sens. Actuators B: Chem. 81, 316 (2002).Google Scholar
4 Lehmann, V., Electrochemistry of Silicon: Instrumentation, Science, Materials and Applications (Wiley-VCH, Weinheim, Germany, 2002).Google Scholar
5 Lin, V. S.-Y., Motesharei, K., Dancil, K. S, Sailor, M. J, and Ghadiri, M. R, Science 278, 840 (1997).Google Scholar
6 Ouyang, H., Christophersen, M., Viard, R., and Miller, B. L, and Fauchet, P. M, Adv. Funct. Mater. 15, 1851 (2005).Google Scholar
7 Chan, S., Horner, S. R, Fauchet, P. M, and Miller, B. L, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 123, 11797 (2001).Google Scholar
8 Saarinen, J. J, Weiss, S. M, Fauchet, P. M, and Sipe, J. E, Opt. Express 13, 3754 (2005).Google Scholar
9 Lukosz, W., Biosensors Bioelectron. 6, 215 (1991).Google Scholar
10 Bruggeman, D.A.G., Ann. Phys. (Leipzig) 24, 636 (1935).Google Scholar
11 Amato, G., Boarino, L., Borini, S., and Rossi, A. M, Phys. Stat. Sol. (a) 182, 425 (2000).Google Scholar
12 Metricon Model 2010 Prism Coupler Operation and Maintenance Guide.Google Scholar
13 Zhou, Y., Snow, P. A, and Russell, P. St. J., Phys. Stat. Sol. (a) 182, 319 (2000).Google Scholar
14 Ouyang, H., Striemer, C. C, and Fauchet, P. M, Appl. Phys. Lett. 88, 163108–1 (2006).Google Scholar