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Silicon photonic sensors incorporated in a digital microfluidic system

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Abstract

Label-free biosensing with silicon nanophotonic microring resonator sensors has proven to be an excellent sensing technique for achieving high-throughput and high sensitivity, comparing favorably with other labeled and label-free sensing techniques. However, as in any biosensing platform, silicon nanophotonic microring resonator sensors require a fluidic component which allows the continuous delivery of the sample to the sensor surface. This component is typically based on microchannels in polydimethylsiloxane or other materials, which add cost and complexity to the system. The use of microdroplets in a digital microfluidic system, instead of continuous flows, is one of the recent trends in the field, where microliter- to picoliter-sized droplets are generated, transported, mixed, and split, thereby creating miniaturized reaction chambers which can be controlled individually in time and space. This avoids cross talk between samples or reagents and allows fluid plugs to be manipulated on reconfigurable paths, which cannot be achieved using the more established and more complex technology of microfluidic channels where droplets are controlled in series. It has great potential for high-throughput liquid handling, while avoiding on-chip cross-contamination. We present the integration of two miniaturized technologies: label-free silicon nanophotonic microring resonator sensors and digital microfluidics, providing an alternative to the typical microfluidic system based on microchannels. The performance of this combined system is demonstrated by performing proof-of-principle measurements of glucose, sodium chloride, and ethanol concentrations. These results show that multiplexed real-time detection and analysis, great flexibility, and portability make the combination of these technologies an ideal platform for easy and fast use in any laboratory.

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Acknowledgments

Part of this work was supported by the Flemish Fund for Scientific Research (FWO Vlaanderen) under project number 3G099711. The authors would like to acknowledge EFRO Interreg NanosensEU for its financial support, ePIXfab (http://www.epixfab.eu) for the fabrication of the optical chip, and Katrien De Vos and Tom Claes for designing the sensors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Photonics Research Group, Department of Information Technology, Ghent University, Sint-Pietersnieuwstraat 41, 9000, Ghent, Belgium

    Cristina Lerma Arce & Peter Bienstman

  2. MeBioS Biosensor Group, Department of Biosystems, KU Leuven, Willem De Croylaan 42, Box 2428, 3001, Leuven, Belgium

    Daan Witters & Jeroen Lammertyn

  3. MICAS-ESAT, KU Leuven, Kasteelpark Arenberg 10, 3001, Leuven, Belgium

    Robert Puers

Authors
  1. Cristina Lerma Arce
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  2. Daan Witters
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  3. Robert Puers
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  4. Jeroen Lammertyn
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  5. Peter Bienstman
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Cristina Lerma Arce.

Additional information

Published in the special paper collection Optical Biochemical and Chemical Sensors with guest editor Laura M. Lechuga.

Cristina Lerma Arce and Daan Witters contributed equally to this article.

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This video shows the movement of water droplets a digital microfluidic platform. Droplets were sandwiched between the two plates. To activate the electrowetting-on-dielectric mechanism the DC actuation voltage, activation time, and relaxation time were controlled by means of homemade programs in MATLAB and LabView. When voltage is applied to the system, a tension gradient in the droplet surface is evoked which attracts the droplet towards the activated region. Thus the droplet movement can be freely controlled along a pattern of electrodes (MPG 818 kb)

The measurements were performed as follows: the droplet of DI-water was transported in the digital microfluidic platform to the sensors area, our system started measuring. Subsequently, that droplet of water was moved, leaving a free route for the second droplet with a certain sodium chloride concentration, which is measured once it reaches the sensors. This process is repeated measuring again the water droplet and finally a third droplet with a different sodium chloride concentration. (MPG 2.29 MB)

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Lerma Arce, C., Witters, D., Puers, R. et al. Silicon photonic sensors incorporated in a digital microfluidic system. Anal Bioanal Chem 404, 2887–2894 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-012-6319-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-012-6319-6

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