An Optical Fiber Read Out Method for a Reflective Microcantilever Biosensor

An effective optical read out approach based on fiber reflective is presented to detect bends of a biomaterial microcantilever. The microcantilever was fabricated on single crystalline SOI wafer using a series of side definitions and backside wet/dry etchings. A Cr/Au layer with 30 nm Cr and 50 nm Au layer was deposited for the immobilized of bimolecular on the cantilever surface and for reflecting the light back into the fiber, the different light intensities means different bimolecular concentrations. The noncoherent light source is a super luminescent LED. Gradient index lens as a collimator and 50:50 optical coupler and signal modefiber was used to transmit light. Two PINFETs were used to convert the reflecting the light intensities and the light sources into electronic signals, two ADCs convert the signal into digital signals, a MPU was used to eliminate the fluctuation of the light source error. The method can has got high sensitivity is 6507.59 mV/um. Though the experiment, the cantilever biosensor can detect glucose, measurement results clearly demonstrate that the output voltage induced by the microcantilevers bending is proportional to the glucose concentrations and the sensitivity is up to 0.1V/mM, which is enough for glucose real-time trace detection. Copyright © 2013 IFSA.