A novel wireless Love wave biosensor platform for multifunctional detection

Abstract

This paper presents a novel wireless Love wave biosensor platform for multi-functional detection. A 440MHz wireless and surface acoustic wave (SAW)-based biosensor was developed on a 41° YX LiNbO₃ piezoelectric substrate for the simultaneous detection of Anti- Dinitrophenyl-KLH (anti-DNP) immunoglobulin G (IgG). The developed biosensor was composed of a SAW reflective delay lines structured by an interdigital transducer (IDT), shorted grating reflectors, poly(methyl-methacrylate) (PMMA) layer and two sensitive films (Cr/Au). The PMMA was used for the waveguide layer. Coupling of mode (COM) modeling was conducted to determine the optimal device parameters prior to fabrication. The fabricated devices were wirelessly characterized by using the network analyzer as the reader unit. The binding of anti-DNP to DNP receptor molecules induced a change in phase shifts of the original reflection peaks due to a mass loading effect. The phase shifts increased linearly with increasing anti-DNP concentration. The measured reflective coefficient S11 in the time domain showed high signal/noise (S/N) ratio, small signal attenuation, and few spurious peaks. The time positions of the reflection peaks were well matched with the predicted values from the simulation. The obtained sensitivity was 167.9°/μg/ml and 44.8°/ μg/ml for the 1st and the 2nd sensing area, respectively.