Si3N4-SiO2-Based Silicon Photonics Nano-Biosensor for Molecular Communication

In molecular communication (MC), information is conveyed between nano-scale transmitters and receivers using molecules. The environment sensing is a significant component of any MC system. The design of biological sensors thus is an important aspect for implementing MC systems. This paper presents a novel
$\textit {Si}_{{3}}{N}_{{4}}$
-
$\textit {SiO}_{{2}}$
silicon photonics (SiPh) nano-biosensor for detection of cancer cells. This design utilizes a micro-ring resonator (MRR) structure and takes advantage of the distinct optical characteristics of various cancer cells and MC by leveraging the interaction between cancer cells and CD47 proteins. The proposed sensor design can be used in artificial nano-machines deployed in a MC system for the applications like cancer cell detection and targeted drug delivery.