Topographically Flat Nanoplasmonic Sensor Chips for Biosensing and Materials Science

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Nanotechnology
• Surface Science

Background:

• Nanoplasmonic sensors utilize noble metal nanoparticles on dielectric supports, resulting in inherent surface topography (10-100 nm corrugations).
• Surface topography can significantly influence interactions between solids, fluids, nanoparticles, and (bio)molecules on sensor surfaces.
• This influence can impact the performance of bio- and chemosensing applications.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a wafer-scale nanolithography fabrication method for nanoplasmonic sensor chips.
• To create sensor chips that are high-temperature compatible, chemically inert, topographically flat, and laterally homogeneous.
• To evaluate the sensing performance of these novel flat sensors compared to traditional corrugated ones.

Main Methods:

• Wafer-scale nanolithography for fabricating flat nanoplasmonic sensor chips.
• Fabrication of high-temperature compatible and chemically inert sensor surfaces.
• Comparative sensing performance analysis against traditional nanoplasmonic sensors with surface corrugations.

Main Results:

• Demonstrated successful fabrication of flat, homogeneous nanoplasmonic sensor chips.
• Quantified the film-thickness dependence of glass transition temperature in poly(methyl methacrylate) thin films.
• Characterized adsorption and binding kinetics of avidin-biotinylated bovine serum albumin and analyzed supported lipid bilayer formation on SiO2 surfaces.

Conclusions:

• Flat nanoplasmonic sensor chips fabricated via nanolithography offer a viable alternative to traditional corrugated sensors.
• The developed fabrication approach enables high-temperature compatible and chemically inert sensing platforms.
• These flat sensors show promising performance for various bio- and chemosensing applications, including thin film analysis, protein interactions, and lipid bilayer studies.