Design and fabrication of slotted multimode interference devices for chemical and biological sensing

Abstract

We present optical sensors based on slotted multimode interference waveguides. The sensor can be tuned to highest sensitivity in the refractive index ranges necessary to detect protein-based molecules or other water-soluble chemical or biological materials. The material of choice is low-loss silicon oxynitride (SiON) which is highly stable to the reactivity with biological agents and processing chemicals. Sensors made with this technology are suited to high volume manufacturing. Copyright © 2009 M. Mayeh et al.