There is considerable interest in the development of photonic-based biosensing technologies to enable low-cost point-of-care detection and diagnostics. Ring resonator arrays have emerged as a promising format to realize multiplexed assays for biologically relevant protein targets. Much of the published work on ring resonator-based biosensors utilize traditional telecommunications laser sources between the O and L bands, where silicon and silicon dioxide are transparent, but absorption by an aqueous cladding is relatively high. We hypothesized that ring resonator-based biosensors designed to operate near a “notch” in the absorption spectrum of water would yield superior performance characteristics. To that end, we have designed ring resonators in silicon nitride to operate with an 840 nm wavelength laser source. These designs were fabricated at the American Institute for Manufacturing Integrated Photonics (AIM Photonics) foundry. Here we report our progress designing, characterizing, and demonstrating these devices in the application of multiplex assays for biologically relevant protein targets.
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