On-chip detection performed by amorphous silicon balanced photosensor for lab-on chip application

Abstract In this paper we have integrated a two-channel microfluidic network, fabricated by molding two polydimethilsiloxane channels, with a balanced photodiode constituted by two series-connected amorphous silicon/silicon carbide n-i-p stacked junctions, deposited by Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition on a glass substrate. The structure takes advantage of the differential current measurement to reveal very small variations of photocurrent in a large background current signal suitable for biomedical application. The microfluidic network has been fabricated with dimensions of 3 cm × 2 mm × 150 μm (L × W × H) for each channel. The experiments have been carried out measuring the differential current in several conditions. All the experiments have been executed under a large background light intensity to reproduce realistic operating conditions in biomedical applications. We have found that the proposed device is able to detect the presence or absence of water flow in the channel and the presence of fluorescent marker. In particular, under identical channel conditions the differential current is at least a factor 60 lower that the current flowing in each diode.

[1]  Domenico Caputo,et al.  On-chip detection of multiple serum antibodies against epitopes of celiac disease by an array of amorphous silicon sensors , 2014 .

[2]  D Caputo,et al.  Smart thin layer chromatography plate. , 2007, Lab on a chip.

[3]  A. Nascetti,et al.  Microfluidic Chip With Integrated a-Si:H Photodiodes for Chemiluminescence-Based Bioassays , 2013, IEEE Sensors Journal.

[4]  M. Boehm,et al.  Monolithic integrated optical detection for microfluidic systems using thin film photodiodes based on amorphous silicon , 2005, 18th IEEE International Conference on Micro Electro Mechanical Systems, 2005. MEMS 2005..

[6]  Andreas Manz,et al.  Scaling and the design of miniaturized chemical-analysis systems , 2006, Nature.

[7]  Andrew J. deMello,et al.  Thin-film organic photodiodes as integrated detectors for microscale chemiluminescence assays , 2005 .

[8]  Domenico Caputo,et al.  Characterization of chromium silicide thin layer formed on amorphous silicon films , 2008 .

[9]  J. Baret,et al.  Electrowetting: from basics to applications , 2005 .

[10]  A. Nascetti,et al.  Detailed Study of Amorphous Silicon Ultraviolet Sensor With Chromium Silicide Window Layer , 2008, IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices.

[11]  Domenico Caputo,et al.  New a-Si:H two-terminal switching device for active display , 1996 .

[12]  Monica Brivio,et al.  Miniaturized continuous flow reaction vessels: influence on chemical reactions. , 2006, Lab on a chip.

[13]  I-Ming Hsing,et al.  Microfabricated PCR-electrochemical device for simultaneous DNA amplification and detection. , 2003, Lab on a chip.

[14]  Leslie Y Yeo,et al.  Microfluidic devices for bioapplications. , 2011, Small.

[15]  Fabrizio Palma,et al.  A novel a-Si:H mechanical stress sensor , 2003 .

[16]  T. Kamei,et al.  Microfluidic Genetic Analysis with an Integrated a-Si:H Detector , 2005, Biomedical microdevices.

[17]  Alberto Escarpa,et al.  Real sample analysis on microfluidic devices. , 2007, Talanta.

[18]  D. Carlson,et al.  AMORPHOUS SILICON SOLAR CELL , 1976 .

[19]  Paul Horowitz,et al.  The Art of Electronics , 1980 .

[20]  A. Nascetti,et al.  Amorphous Silicon Photosensors for Detection of Ochratoxin a in Wine , 2012, IEEE Sensors Journal.

[21]  Toshihiro Kamei,et al.  Integrated hydrogenated amorphous Si photodiode detector for microfluidic bioanalytical devices. , 2003, Analytical chemistry.

[22]  Domenico Caputo,et al.  Chemiluminescence-Based Micro-Total-Analysis System with Amorphous Silicon Photodiodes , 2014 .

[23]  M. Heller.  DNA microarray technology: devices, systems, and applications. , 2002, Annual review of biomedical engineering.

[24]  N.M. Jokerst,et al.  Integrated Optical Sensor in a Digital Microfluidic Platform , 2008, IEEE Sensors Journal.

[25]  Dipak K. Sarker,et al.  Developments in microarray technologies. , 2003, Drug discovery today.

[26]  Domenico Caputo,et al.  Spectral tuned amorphous silicon p-i-n for DNA detection , 2006 .

[27]  Domenico Caputo,et al.  Hydrogenated amorphous silicon ultraviolet sensor for deoxyribonucleic acid analysis , 2006 .

[28]  D. Erickson,et al.  Integrated microfluidic devices , 2004 .

[29]  Fernanda Irrera,et al.  Characterization of intrinsic a-Si:H in p-i-n devices by capacitance measurements: Theory and experiments , 1994 .

[30]  Teodor Veres,et al.  Integration and detection of biochemical assays in digital microfluidic LOC devices. , 2010, Lab on a chip.

[31]  Hervé Rigneault,et al.  Large area CMOS bio-pixel array for compact high sensitive multiplex biosensing. , 2015, Lab on a chip.

[32]  V Chu,et al.  An on-chip thin film photodetector for the quantification of DNA probes and targets in microarrays. , 2004, Nucleic acids research.

[33]  A. Nascetti,et al.  Amorphous Silicon Sensors for Single and Multicolor Detection of Biomolecules , 2007, IEEE Sensors Journal.

[34]  R. Street,et al.  Hydrogenated amorphous silicon: Index , 1991 .

[35]  Dominic Eicher,et al.  Microfluidic devices for diagnostic applications , 2011, Expert review of molecular diagnostics.