Modeling and Analysis of an Opto-Fluidic Sensor for Lab-on-a-Chip Applications.

Venkatesha Muniswamy,Narayan Krishnaswamy,Chaya Bangalore Muniraju,Prasant Kumar Pattnaik

doi:10.3390/mi9030134

Venkatesha Muniswamy, Narayan Krishnaswamy + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/mi9030134

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Abstract

In this work modeling and analysis of an integrated opto-fluidic sensor, with a focus on achievement of single mode optical confinement and continuous flow of microparticles in the microfluidic channel for lab-on-a-chip (LOC) sensing application is presented. This sensor consists of integrated optical waveguides, microfluidic channel among other integrated optical components. A continuous flow of microparticles in a narrow fluidic channel is achieved by maintaining the two sealed chambers at different temperatures and by maintaining a constant pressure of 1 Pa at the centroid of narrow fluidic channel geometry. The analysis of silicon on insulator (SOI) integrated optical waveguide at an infrared wavelength of 1550 nm for single mode sensing operation is presented. The optical loss is found to be 5.7 × 10−4 dB/cm with an effective index of 2.3. The model presented in this work can be effectively used to detect the nature of microparticles and continuous monitoring of pathological parameters for sensing applications.

Highlights

A lab-on-a-chip (LOC) is a device that integrates many laboratory tests on a common integrated circuit
The flow rate analysis between two fluidic chambers connected by a narrow microfluidic channel which is in a plane perpendicular to integrated optical Silicon on Insulator (SOI) waveguides is presented
The narrow fluidic channel sandwiched between two single SOI waveguides acts as a sensing region

Summary

Introduction

A lab-on-a-chip (LOC) is a device that integrates many laboratory tests on a common integrated circuit. The size of LOC is in the range of a few millimeters to a few square centimeters [1]. LOCs requires the combination of microfluidics, manipulation and study of microliters of fluids and light-fluid interaction. Most of the LOC fabrication processes were developed on silicon. The demands for cheap and easy production of LOC’s results in a simple technology for the development of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), microfluidic devices [2]. LOCs provides application related advantages, such as low fluid volume consumption, faster analysis, quick response times and compactness of the system due to the integration of multiple functions [3]

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