High Sensitivity Plastic-Substrate Photonic Crystal Biosensor

A photonic crystal biosensor incorporating a nanomolded porous dielectric is fabricated for the first time on a flexible polysulfone substrate. The plastic substrate necessitates several changes to the fabrication procedure, including reduced processing temperatures. The resulting structure shows excellent response uniformity across a large area in the steady state as well as for perturbations of the bulk and near-surface dielectric permittivity. Kinetic binding data for a representative biomolecular assay demonstrate robust sensor operation.