Fabrication of quantum dot microarrays using electron beam lithography for applications in analyte sensing and...

Quantum dot (QD) based micro-/nanopatterned arrays are of broad interest in applications ranging from electronics, photonics, to sensor devices for biomedical purposes. Here, we report on a rapid, physico-chemically mild approach to generate high fidelity micropattern arrays of prefunctionalized water-soluble quantum dots using electron beam lithography. We show that such patterns retain their fluorescence and bioaffinity upon electron beam lithography and, based on the streptavidin-biotin interaction, allow for detection of proteins, colloidal gold nanoparticles and magnetic microparticles. Furthermore, we demonstrate the applicability of QD based microarray patterns differing in their shape (circles, squares, grid-like), size (from 1 to 10 μm) and pitch distance to study the adhesion, spreading and migration of human blood derived neutrophils. Using live cell confocal fluorescence microscopy, we show that pattern geometry and pitch distance influence the adhesion, spreading and migratory behavior of neutrophils. Research reported in this work paves the way for producing QD microarrays with multiplexed functionalities relevant for applications in analyte sensing and cellular dynamics.