Monolithic Silicon Optocouplers for Bio-Chemical Sensing

In this work a monolithic silicon optocoupler platform for bio-chemical sensing is presented. The uniqueness of the platform relies on its radical design that integrates all passive and active elements of an optical transducer on a single silicon chip fabricated with standard microfabrication techniques. The versatility of the platform has led to three different embodiments for various detection schemes and bio-chemical sensing applications that apart from the low detection limits offer the advantage of multi-analyte multiplexed label-free determinations. The presented platform - fully- CMOS-compatible and unique in its kind-can pave the way for truly portable, low-cost optical biochemical sensors. (C) 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd.