Contact-lens type of micromachined hydrogenated amorphous Si fluorescence detector coupled with microfluidic electrophoresis devices

A 5.8-mu m-thick SiO2/Ta2O5 multilayer optical interference filter was monolithically integrated and micromachined on a hydrogenated amorphous Si (a-Si:H) pin photodiode to form a fluorescence detector. A microfluidic electrophoresis device was mounted on a detection platform comprising a fluorescence-collecting half-ball lens and the micromachined fluorescence detector. The central aperture of the fluorescence detector allows semiconductor laser light to pass up through the detector and to irradiate an electrophoretic separation channel. The limit of detection is as low as 7 nM of the fluorescein solution, and high-speed DNA fragment sizing can be achieved with high separation efficiency. The micromachined a-Si:H fluorescence detector exhibits high sensitivity for practical fluorescent labeling dyes as well as integration flexibility on various substances, making it ideal for application to portable microfluidic bioanalysis devices. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.