Title:  Ultrasensitive CMOS-compatible Lab-on-a-chip Integrated Photonic Sensors with Wideband Operation

Committee: 

Dr. Adibi, Advisor

Dr. Klein, Chair

Dr. Chang

Abstract: The objective of the proposed research is to develop CMOS-compatible lab-on-a-chip integrated photonic sensors with wideband operation for ultrasensitive sensing applications. For the preliminary research, two high-quality-factor (high-Q) spiral-based coupled-resonator devices on a Si3N4 platform at near-IR wavelengths are demonstrated with high detection capability. The coupled-resonator architectures resolve the resonance shift confusion caused by the small free spectral range (FSR) in conventional long resonators while enabling the detection of very small spectral resonance shifts through the high-Q resonance. An integrated mid-IR metasurface (MS) on a SiC platform with relatively sharp transmission peaks associated with phonon-mediated magnetic-polariton resonance is demonstrated as a promising candidate for mid-IR sensing applications. The thermally-reconfigurable high-Q SiC microring resonator is, for the first time, demonstrated with integrated microheaters on a 3C-SiC-on-insulator (SiCOI) platform, which is promising for realizing a fully integrated chip-scale tunable sensor. The proposed research will focus on the development of surface chemistry for biomolecular detection, the demonstration of the integration of microfluidic channels for sample delivery, the demonstration of high-Q SiC microresonator-based devices on the SiCOI platform for sensing applications, and the optimization of the reconfigurable SiC device.