Quantitative protein sensing with germanium THz-antennas manufactured using CMOS processes

Abstract

The development of a CMOS manufactured THz sensing platform could enable the integration of state-of-the-art sensing principles with the mixed signal electronics ecosystem in small footprint, low-cost devices. To this aim, in this work we demonstrate a label-free protein sensing platform using highly doped germanium plasmonic antennas realized on Si and SOI substrates and operating in the THz range of the electromagnetic spectrum. The antenna response to different concentrations of BSA shows in both cases a linear response with saturation above 20 mg/mL. Ge antennas on SOI substrates feature a two-fold sensitivity as compared to conventional Si substrates, reaching a value of 6 GHz/(mg/mL), which is four-fold what reported using metal-based metamaterials. We believe that this result could pave the way to a low-cost lab-on-a-chip biosensing platform.

3D printed sub-terahertz photonic crystal for wireless passive biosensing

“…Sensors based on EM waves exploit a change in the refractive index (RI) in their immediate environment to detect pathogens. They can be highly specific, for example, using the binding of a target pathogen with a surface-bound specific receptor, thereby forming a thin film on the sensor surface 7,8 .…”