Integrated Optical Slot-Waveguide Ring Resonator Sensor Arrays for Lab-on-Chip Applications

Abstract: This thesis treats the development of an integrated optical sensor array. The sensors are slot-waveguide ring resonators, integrated with on-chip surface grating couplers and light splitters, for alignment tolerant, real-time, refractive index sensing, and label-free biosensing. The work includes: the design of components and system layouts, the development of fabrication methods, the fabrication of sensor chips, the characterization of the chips, and the development of physical system models for accurate extraction of resonance wavelengths in measured spectra.The main scientific achievements include: The evaluation of a novel type of nano-structured optical waveguide for biochemical sensing. The realization of an array of such slot-waveguide sensors, integrated with microfluidic sample handling, for multiplex assays. The first study of the thermal behavior of slot-waveguide sensors and the discovery of unique temperature compensation capabilities.From an application perspective, the use of alignment tolerant surface gratings to couple light into the optical chip enables quick replacement of cartridges in the read-out instrument. Furthermore, the fabrication sequence avoids polishing of individual chips, and thus ensures that the cost benefits of silicon batch micro-fabrication can be leveraged in mass production.The high sensitivity of the slot waveguide resonators, combined with on-chip referencing and physical modeling, yields low limits of detection. The obtained volume refractive index detection limit of 5 × 10−6 refractive index units (RIU), and the surface mass density detection limit of 0.9 pg/mm2, shows that performance comparable to that of commercial non-integrated surface plasmon resonance sensors, made from bulk optical components, canbe achieved in a compact cartridge.