A compact silicon-on-insulator gas sensor

Gas sensors have been widely used for different applications including chemical detection, quality assurance, environmental monitoring and medical diagnostics. Optical gas sensors exhibit higher sensitivity and wider dynamic range than their electrical counterparts. This work demonstrates a novel design for a gas sensor based on conventional Silicon-on-insulator (SOI) platform. The sensor design is based on interferometer working in the near-infrared (NIR) region where directional couplers were used in splitting and combining the input power to and from the two arms of the interferometer with 50/50 splitting ratio at 1550nm. Slot-waveguide is used in the sensing arm of the interferometer and strip-to-slot and slot-to-stip converters with high coupling efficiency were used for transforming the optical mode. Finite difference eigenmode (FDE) solver was used to calculate its mode field profiles, effective index, and loss to optimize the waveguide dimensions and to achieve a waveguide sensitivity of 0.7 at 1550nm for 220nm silicon thickness. Three-dimensional finite-dif-ference-time-domain (3D-FDTD) method was used in the analysis and optimization of the proposed gas sensor. Results show significant improvement in the figure-of-merit (FOM) and reduction of device area. The sensor also exhibits low insertion loss (IL) leading to a low detection limit. The proposed sensor is easily fabricated using CMOS technology which is essential for mass-scale fabrication, and thus a low-cost sensor can be integrated with optical fiber communication systems and optoelectronic systems. Therefore, the proposed sensor has the potential to be a key component in lab-on-a-chip (LOC) systems.

[1]  Mohamed A. Swillam,et al.  Silicon plasmonic-integrated sensor , 2016, SPIE OPTO.

[2]  J. Koenderink.  Q… , 2014, Les noms officiels des communes de Wallonie, de Bruxelles-Capitale et de la communaute germanophone.

[3]  Rene Heideman,et al.  Performance of a highly sensitive optical waveguide Mach-Zehnder interferometer immunosensor , 1993 .

[4]  R. Binions,et al.  13 – Metal oxide semiconductor gas sensors in environmental monitoring , 2013 .

[5]  Lech Wosinski,et al.  Ultracompact low-loss coupler between strip and slot waveguides. , 2009, Optics letters.

[6]  Mohamed A. Swillam,et al.  Integrated Metal-Insulator-Metal Plasmonic Nano Resonator: an Analytical Approach , 2013 .

[7]  Xun Li,et al.  Efficient Design of Integrated Wideband Polarization Splitter/Combiner , 2010, Journal of Lightwave Technology.

[8]  B. Luff,et al.  Integrated-optical directional coupler biosensor. , 1996, Optics letters.

[9]  H. Tai,et al.  Fiber-optic evanescent-wave methane-gas sensor using optical absorption for the 3.392-microm line of a He-Ne laser. , 1987, Optics letters.

[10]  K. Vahala.  Optical microcavities , 2003, Nature.

[11]  A. Driessen,et al.  Quasi-one-dimensional photonic crystal as a compact building-block for refractometric optical sensors , 2005, IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics.

[12]  He Zhang,et al.  Air-mode photonic crystal ring resonator on silicon-on-insulator , 2016, Scientific Reports.

[13]  M J Padgett,et al.  Application of laser spectroscopy for measurement of exhaled ethane in patients with lung cancer. , 2006, Respiratory medicine.

[14]  Muzammil Iqbal,et al.  Label-Free Biosensor Arrays Based on Silicon Ring Resonators and High-Speed Optical Scanning Instrumentation , 2010, IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics.

[15]  Mohamed A. Swillam,et al.  Near infrared plasmonic sensor based on Fano resonance , 2016, SPIE OPTO.

[16]  Yoshinori Tanaka,et al.  Design and demonstration of high-Q photonic heterostructure nanocavities suitable for integration. , 2009, Optics express.

[17]  Mohamed A. Swillam,et al.  Full Wave Sensitivity Analysis of Guided Wave Structures Using FDTD , 2008 .

[18]  L. Lechuga,et al.  An integrated optical interferometric nanodevice based on silicon technology for biosensor applications , 2003 .

[19]  Bijoy Krishna Das,et al.  Dispersion Enhanced Critically Coupled Ring Resonator for Wide Range Refractive Index Sensing , 2017, IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics.

[20]  Winnie N. Ye,et al.  Slot Waveguide Ring-Assisted Mach–Zehnder Interferometer for Sensing Applications , 2017, IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics.

[21]  Vittorio M. N. Passaro,et al.  Optimizing SOI Slot Waveguide Fabrication Tolerances and Strip-Slot Coupling for Very Efficient Optical Sensing , 2012, Sensors.

[22]  Mohamed A. Swillam,et al.  Optical biosensor based on a silicon nanowire ridge waveguide for lab on chip applications , 2015 .

[23]  Mohamed A. Swillam,et al.  Silicon Plasmonics On-Chip Mid-IR Gas Sensor , 2018, IEEE Photonics Technology Letters.

[24]  M. Lipson,et al.  Nanotaper for compact mode conversion. , 2003, Optics letters.

[25]  Jeremy Witzens,et al.  High-speed, Monolithic CMOS Receivers with Ge on Si Waveguide Photodetectors , 2008 .

[26]  Mohamed A. Swillam,et al.  Integrated optical sensor using hybrid plasmonics for lab on chip applications , 2016 .

[27]  R. Kashyap,et al.  An all single-mode fiber Michelson interferometer sensor , 1983, Journal of Lightwave Technology.

[28]  Mohamed A. Swillam,et al.  High Sensitivity Hybrid Plasmonic Rectangular Resonator for Gas Sensing Applications , 2015 .

[29]  Mohamed A. Swillam,et al.  Integrated plasmonic refractometric sensor using Fano resonance , 2017 .

[30]  James S. Wilkinson,et al.  Integrated optical Mach-Zehnder biosensor , 1998 .

[31]  G. G. Stokes.  "J." , 1890, The New Yale Book of Quotations.

[32]  Yang Ran,et al.  Label-Free Detection of Cancer Biomarkers Using an In-Line Taper Fiber-Optic Interferometer and a Fiber Bragg Grating , 2017, Sensors.

[33]  Francesco Dell'Olio,et al.  Optical sensing by optimized silicon slot waveguides. , 2007, Optics express.

[34]  Mohamed A. Swillam,et al.  Resonance-based integrated plasmonic nanosensor for lab-on-chip applications , 2013 .

[35]  Mohamed A. Swillam,et al.  Ultra-sensitive silicon-photonic on-chip sensor using microfabrication technology , 2017, OPTO.

[36]  Chen Hongda,et al.  A novel structure of silicon-on-insulator microring biosensor based on Young's two-slit interference and its simulation , 2011 .

[37]  P. Dumon,et al.  Basic structures for photonic integrated circuits in Silicon-on-insulator. , 2004, Optics express.

[38]  Urs Fischer,et al.  Integrated optics in silicon and SiGe-heterostructures , 1996 .

[39]  Jian-Jun He,et al.  Highly-sensitive silicon-on-insulator sensor based on two cascaded micro-ring resonators with vernier effect , 2011 .

[40]  Zhiping Zhou,et al.  Manipulation of beat length and wavelength dependence of a polarization beam splitter using a subwavelength grating. , 2016, Optics letters.

[41]  Yong Zhao,et al.  HIGH-SENSITIVITY OPTICAL FIBER GAS SENSORS BASED ON NOVEL OPTICAL DEVICES , 2013 .

[42]  G. Cong,et al.  Demonstration of a 3-dB directional coupler with enhanced robustness to gap variations for silicon wire waveguides. , 2014, Optics express.

[43]  Mohamed A Swillam,et al.  Accurate sensitivity analysis of photonic devices exploiting the finite-difference time-domain cavity adjoint variable method. , 2007, Applied optics.

[44]  C. Luchini,et al.  [High speed]. , 1969, Revista De La Escuela De Odontologia, Universidad Nacional De Tucuman, Facultad De Medicina.

[45]  W. Lukosz,et al.  Principles and sensitivities of integrated optical and surface plasmon sensors for direct affinity sensing and immunosensing , 1991 .

[46]  A. M. Jorgensen,et al.  Lab-on-a-chip with integrated optical transducers. , 2006, Lab on a chip.

[47]  Hossam Haick,et al.  Detection of cancer through exhaled breath: a systematic review , 2015, Oncotarget.

[48]  Fan Zhang,et al.  Broadband silicon photonic directional coupler using asymmetric-waveguide based phase control. , 2015, Optics express.

[49]  Wei Ji,et al.  Optimal design of DC-based polarization beam splitter in lithium niobate on insulator , 2017 .

[50]  Dazeng Feng,et al.  Recent advances in manufactured silicon photonics , 2012, Other Conferences.

[51]  Ke Ma,et al.  Sensitivity Enhancement in Si Nanophotonic Waveguides Used for Refractive Index Sensing , 2016, Sensors.

[52]  Jian-Jun He,et al.  High-sensitivity optical biosensor based on cascaded Mach-Zehnder interferometer and ring resonator using Vernier effect. , 2014, Optics letters.

[53]  Lukas Chrostowski,et al.  Silicon photonic slot waveguide Bragg gratings and resonators. , 2013, Optics express.

[54]  Zhiping Zhou,et al.  Strip-slot waveguide mode converter based on symmetric multimode interference. , 2014, Optics letters.

[55]  Bahram Jalali,et al.  Integrated optical directional couplers in silicon-on-insulator , 1995 .

[56]  Zhiping Zhou,et al.  Robust polarization-insensitive strip-slot waveguide mode converter based on symmetric multimode interference. , 2016, Optics express.

[57]  P. Dumon,et al.  Nanophotonic waveguides in silicon-on-insulator fabricated with CMOS technology , 2005, Journal of Lightwave Technology.

[58]  Vittorio M. N. Passaro,et al.  Cascaded ring resonator and Mach-Zehnder interferometer with a Sagnac loop for Vernier-effect refractive index sensing , 2017 .

[59]  Mohamed A. Swillam,et al.  Silicon plasmonic integrated interferometer sensor for lab on chip applications , 2018, Optics Communications.

[60]  Li Han Chen,et al.  Sensitivity-enhanced Michelson interferometric humidity sensor with waist-enlarged fiber bitaper , 2014 .

[61]  Decai Li,et al.  Compact magnetic-field sensor based on optical microfiber Michelson interferometer and Fe3O4 nanofluid. , 2013, Applied optics.