An optical waveguide array biosensor for serology - biomed 2010

A label-free optical waveguide immunosensor was designed, fabricated and tested. Different from other popular resonance-based biosensors, such as surface-plasmon-resonance (SPR) or ring/disk resonance biosensors, the local evanescent array coupled (LEAC) biosensor relies on a local evanescent field shift mechanism and can be readily manufactured using trailing-edge integrated-circuit technology with chip-scale microfluidics technology to provide very low cost. The anticipated final form of the sensor technology will require no external equipment enabling disposable use for point-of-care disease detection in non-traditional health-care settings. The local detection ability enables the LEAC biosensor the capability to detect and identify multiple analytes on the same waveguide. On-chip detection is accomplished by integrating buried polysilicon detector arrays under a silicon nitride waveguide. Observations of antibody-antigen interactions using the LEAC biosensor are reported.