OPTICAL SENSOR BASED ON THREE-DIMENSIONAL MICROPATTERNED LAYER OF A TRANSPARENT MATERIAL FOR THE SIMULTANEOUS LABEL-FREE MONITORING OF MULTIPLE (BIO)REACTIONS WITH WHITE LIGHT REFLECTANCE SPECTROSCOPY

摘要

The present invention concerns the use of an optical sensing element consisting of a dense array or matrix of areas made from transparent materials of different thicknesses on a reflective substrate for the label-free detection of multiple-analytes in real time through White Light Reflectance Spectroscopy (WLRS). The sensor is fabricated with microelectronic processes, namely grey-scale lithography and etching. Functionalization of the different transparent areas with recognition molecules targeting different analytes of interest provide for the simultaneous detection of multiple analytes without scanning through a single reflection probe used for illumination of the surface and collection of the reflected light.