Gold and Aluminum based surface Plasmon resonance biosensors: sensitivity enhancement

In this work we considered Gold and Aluminum thin films coated with additional dielectric layers as sensing platforms. Operation of these sensors is based on measuring shift in the position of the reflectivity dip in angular reflectivity spectrum of the sample. Shift can be caused by changes in the refraction index of either liquid that interacts with sensors surface (refractometric measurements) or thin adjacent biolayer on top of the sensor due to immobilization of the target molecules (biosensing). Calculations based on Fresnel equations and transfer matrix formalism allowed us to make comprehensive analysis of the angular sensitivity, shape of the reflectivity dip and dynamic range of the sensors with different dielectric coatings. Calculations were performed for both cases of bio and refractometric sensing. Results showed different dependence of the sensitivity of Au an Al based sensors upon refraction index of the dielectric coating. For Au-based surface Plasmon resonance sensor up to two times increased sensitivity can be achieved using dielectric coating with high refraction index 2.3 of proper thickness. For sensors based on aluminum we were able to achieve 50% increased angular sensitivity. At the same time width of the reflectivity dip increased proportionally to the optical thickness of the dielectric coating. For estimating sensors quality we analyzed ratio of the angular sensitivity to the width of the reflectivity dip. This ratio decreased with increase in optical thickness of the dielectric, however angular sensitivity of the sensor increased significantly. Deposition of the additional dielectric layer with high refraction index such as Niobium Oxide can also improve chemical and mechanical stability of the sensor.