Smart microplates: integrated photodiodes for detecting bead-based chemiluminescent reactions

A photodiode, integrated into a micromachined silicon pyramidal cavity for the purpose of detecting bead-based chemiluminescent reactions has been devised and fabricated. A large amount of previous work on the optical detection of chemical/biological reactions has concentrated on either improving the signal processing capabilities of planar, imager-like, detectors or developing a dedicated detector for sensing one specific phenomenon at a time. In our platform photodiodes are designed to be directly integrated into micromachined cavities in an array, reminiscent of a microplate, which potentially enables multi-analyte capabilities. Additionally, a concept of accessing a photodiode using inductive coupling, i.e. using a non-contact wireless reading, is introduced and demonstrated.