Preliminary results from CVD diamond detectors for biomolecular imaging

An innovative biomolecular imaging system incorporating a Chemical Vapour Deposition diamond detector is in development. The synthetic diamond is used as a UV detector to image electrophoretically separated biomolecules. The microstrip diamond detectors have good quantum efficiency, excellent UV response and low-leakage current. A deuterium lamp has been used with the detector to examine the UV properties of a range of materials used in electrophoresis. Preliminary results are presented which include: UV sensitivity of the detector, diamond QE measurements and response time of the detector. Gel resolution and spatial resolution of the system are also presented. We discuss how the use of absorption-rather than emission-based detection combined with the UV properties of diamond may be used to decrease the amount of biological sample required and to reduce the electrophoretic imaging time significantly.