2D photonic crystal membranes for optical biosensors

Abstract

Biosensors are devices able to reduce costs and time in biological assays. They are efficient and useful tools also in biochemical assays, providing high performance in sensitivity and selectivity of measurements. In this work, we developed a label-free biosensor based on a two-dimensional photonic crystal patterned on a large area silicon nitride membrane that operates in the visible spectrum for the detection of proteins. The biosensor has been preliminarily tested in solutions of different refractive index, showing as expected a shift of the resonance in the reflection spectrum.