Biosensor System with Polymer Microring Resonators Manufactured by Multilevel-Nanoimprint

Abstract:
Optical biosensors based on microring resonators gained great interest due to their high sensitivity and ability for sensing of multiple analytes. If the sensor is intended for point-of-care-diagnostics (POCT, point-of-care-testing), a standalone and portable sensor system needs to be built up. The here introduced biosensor system uses chemically functional polymer microring resonators that are manufactured by UV-based nanoimprinting (UV-NIL). By using hybrid nanoimprint molds, the NIL-inherent polymer residual layer could be fully prevented. The biosensor system proposes misalignment tolerant and out-of-plane fiber-to-chip coupling by grating couplers that are manufactured by multilevel-nanoimprint with a 3D imprint mold. The presented NIL technologies have a high potential for the mass production of low-cost and single use biosensors. By integrating a miniaturized fluidic system, the automation of entire biosensing experiments becomes possible. The presented optical biosensor system has a high potential for POCT with single use low-cost biosensor chips as desired in medical diagnostics.