NER: Electron Beam Emitter SPR for Biosensor Applications Nanoscale Exploratory Research

在这个项目中，我们提出了基于一种新型的表面等离子体共振装置来开发生物传感器纳米微阵列的可行性。在我们的方法中，美国临时专利601,283,051“场发射电子束生物传感器”，纳米尺度的场发射电极将被用作电子源，以激发金属薄膜中的表面等离子激元。抗体将固定在金属膜的对侧，通过收集与表面等离子体共振相关的光谱数据，将提取关于分子结合事件的数据。我们将该设备称为ESPR，即“电子询问SPR”。当真空纳米电子器件的场发射电极上的偏置电压被扫过其射程时，撞击在金属膜上的电子束的能量也被扫过，反射电流的幅度代表了等离子体共振的光谱询问。与使用光学激发源的商业系统(如Biacore 3000)的情况一样，等离子体共振的性质受到发生在金属膜附近的生物分子相互作用的干扰。我们努力的总体目标是制造能够同时检测多种生化目标的小型、便携式或嵌入式生物传感器微阵列。我们项目的目标如下：了解电子束诱导表面等离子体共振生物传感器的物理原理开发设计策略和处理方法，将知识从真空微电子领域转移到纳米尺度的ESPR传感器。目前正在开发的用于平板显示设备的商用发射器阵列将被审查和表征，以确定是否适合用于ESPR应用。其他ESPR器件的特性将使用CFD Research Corporation的CFD-ACE等软件模型工具来完成。大约50年来，人们已经知道电子束可以在金属-介质结构中激发表面等离子激元共振。在实践中，由于所需设备和真空中挥发性有机物质的复杂性，使用电子束诱导表面等离子体共振作为传感装置在很大程度上仍然是一个未开发的领域。对文献的审查表明，没有针对ESPR的这类研究。回报是ESPR设备在生物传感能力方面的显著进步。通过标准微电子加工方法生产的微发射器阵列的发展现在带来了非常小的尺寸、丢弃成本和定制配置的可能性，从而缓解了真空-生物混合问题。低成本、高灵敏度、手持或更小的多探测器的出现，无疑将在消费和工业市场上得到广泛的应用。与目前的传感器相比，这种生物传感装置的实现将是一个重大的进步，目前的传感器既不小，生产和操作起来也不便宜。这种风险是因为利用电子束发射器的生物传感领域尚未被探索。在以前没有进行过相关研究的情况下，必须有选择地将从光学SPR装置获得的知识转移到电子束装置。同时包含真空微电子和生物材料的装置的本质是困难的，但如果成功地结合在一起，在尺寸和成本方面会有很大的回报。

In this project, we propose to investigate the feasibility of developing biosensor nano-microarrays based on a novel type of surface plasmon resonance device. In our approach, U.S. provisional patent 601,283,051 "Field Emission Electron Beam Biosensor", nanoscale field emission electrodes will be used as electron sources to excite surface plasmons in a thin metal film. Antibodies will be immobilized onto the opposing side of the metal film and data on molecular binding events will be extracted obtained via the collection of spectral data associated with the surface plasmon resonance. We will refer to the device as the eSPR for "electron-interrogated SPR." As the bias voltage on the field emission electrode of the vacuum nano-electronic device is swept through its range, the energy of the electron beam impinging on the metal film is also swept and the amplitude of the reflected current represents a spectral interrogation of the plasmon resonance. As is the case with commercial systems that utilize optical excitation sources, such as the Biacore 3000, the nature of the plasmon resonance is perturbed by the biomolecular interaction occurring in the vicinity of the metal film. The overarching goal of our efforts will be to produce small, portable or embedded biosensor micro-arrays with the capability to detect a multiplicity, of biochemical targets simultaneously.The objectives of our project will be as follows:Understand the physical principles of electron-beam induced surface plasmon resonancebiosensorsDevelop design strategies and processing methods to transfer knowledge from the vacuummicroelectronic domain to eSPR sensors that have nanoscale dimensions.Commercially available emitter arrays currently being developed for flat panel display devices will be reviewed and characterized to determine suitability for use in this eSPR application. Additional eSPR device characterization will be done with software model tools such as CFD-ACE from CFD Research Corporation.It has been known for approximately fifty years 1 that an electron beam can excite a surface plasmon resonance in a metal-dielectric structure. In practice the use of an electron beam to induce a surface plasmon resonance as a sensing device has remained largely an unexploited areabecause of the equipment needed and the complications of volatile organic materials in a vacuum.A review of the literature has revealed no studies of this type for eSPR. The reward is significantadvancement in biosensing capabilities with the eSPR device. The development of micro-emitterarrays produced by standard microelectronics processing methods now brings the possibility of very small sizes, throw away costs and custom configurations which mitigate the vacuum-biological mixing problems. The advent of a low cost, high sensitivity, hand-held or smaller, multi-detector would undoubtedly find wide spread applications in both the consumer and industrial markets. The realization of such a biosensing device would be a significant advancement over current sensors which neither small in size nor inexpensive to produce and operate. The risk is due to the fact that the field of biosensing utilizing electron beam emitters is unexplored. Without relevant research having been previously conducted knowledge gained from optical SPR devices must be selectively transferred to an electron beam device. The very nature of a device that contains both vacuum microelectronics and biological material presents difficulties but contains large rewards in size and cost reduction if successfully combined.