Plastic lab-on-a-chip for fluorescence excitation with integrated organic semiconductor lasers

• Published in: Optics express Vol. 19; no. 9; pp. 8179 - 8186
• Main Authors: Vannahme, Christoph, Klinkhammer, Sönke, Lemmer, Uli, Mappes, Timo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 25.04.2011
• Subjects: Biosensing Techniques - instrumentation; Equipment Design; Equipment Failure Analysis; Lasers, Semiconductor; Microfluidic Analytical Techniques - instrumentation; Organic Chemicals - chemistry; Plastics - chemistry; Spectrometry, Fluorescence - instrumentation; Systems Integration
• ISSN: 1094-4087; 1094-4087
• DOI: 10.1364/OE.19.008179

Laser light excitation of fluorescent markers offers highly sensitive and specific analysis for bio-medical or chemical analysis. To profit from these advantages for applications in the field or at the point-of-care, a plastic lab-on-a-chip with integrated organic semiconductor lasers is presented here. First order distributed feedback lasers based on the organic semiconductor tris(8-hydroxyquinoline) aluminum (Alq3) doped with the laser dye 4-dicyanomethylene-2-methyl-6-(p-dimethylaminostyril)-4H-pyrane (DCM), deep ultraviolet induced waveguides, and a nanostructured microfluidic channel are integrated into a poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) substrate. A simple and parallel fabrication process is used comprising thermal imprint, DUV exposure, evaporation of the laser material, and sealing by thermal bonding. The excitation of two fluorescent marker model systems including labeled antibodies with light emitted by integrated lasers is demonstrated.