Advanced interferometric profile measurements through refractive media.

Optical profilers are valuable tools for the characterization of microelectromechanical systems (MEMSs). They use phase sifting interferometry (PSI) or vertical scanning interferometry to measure the topography of microscale structures with nanometer resolution. However, for many emerging MEMS applications, the sample needs to be imaged while placed in a liquid or in a package with a glass window.

Mechano-transduction of DNA hybridization and dopamine oxidation through electrodeposited chitosan network.

While microcantilevers offer exciting opportunities for mechano-detection, they often suffer from limitations in either sensitivity or selectivity. To address these limitations, we electrodeposited a chitosan film onto a cantilever surface and mechano-transduced detection events through the chitosan network. Our first demonstration was the detection of nucleic acid hybridization.

A fabrication platform for electrically mediated optically active biofunctionalized sites in BioMEMS.

We report a new approach for microfluidic optical bioanalysis that is based on the electrically driven assembly of bio-components on a transparent sidewall and the optical detection of the assembled components using planar waveguides. This allows localized electrical signals for bio-assembly and optical signals for bio-detection that can easily be applied in MEMS systems. We demonstrate a BioMEMS design incorporating this scheme and its output signal when using fluorescent detection.