Monolithic integrated optical detection for microfluidic systems using thin film photodiodes based on amorphous silicon

For the fabrication of micrototal analysis systems (/spl mu/TAS) methods of micropatterning, sealing, and for the manufacturability, as well as techniques for connecting the microstructures to the macroworld are of particular significance. The idea is to create a monolithic instrument which consists of an assembly of three-dimensional integrated modules (e.g. fluidic networks, electrical and optical sensors, microelectronic circuits) to support the advantage of efficient interconnections. To demonstrate the feasibility of an application specific lab-on-microchip, published in Ref.1, results obtained with a fabricated micro flow cytometer and monolithically integrated optical detectors based on amorphous silicon are reported. In this work, we use an a-Si:H pin diode for the optoelectronic detection of organic fluorescence sensors, namely anthracene derivatives, which are driven through the fluidic channel network hydrodynamically.