A comprehensive investigation of real-time temperature-induced resonance shift cancellation for silicon wire based biosensor arrays is reported for the first time. A reference resonator, protected by either a SU8 or SiO₂ cladding layer, is used to track temperature changes. The temperature dependence of resonators in aqueous solutions, pertinent to biosensing applications, is measured under steady-state conditions and the operating parameters influencing these properties are discussed. Real-time measurements show that the reference resonator resonances reflect the temperature changes without noticeable time delay, enabling effective cancellation of temperature-induced shifts. Binding between complementary IgG protein pairs is monitored over 4 orders of magnitude dynamic range down to a concentration of 20 pM, demonstrating a resolvable mass of 40 attograms. Reactions are measured over time periods as long as 3 hours with high stability, showing a scatter corresponding to a fluid refractive index fluctuation of ± 4 × 10⁻⁶ in the baseline data. Sensor arrays with a SU8 protective cladding are easy to fabricate, while oxide cladding is found to provide superior stability for measurements involving long time scales.

© 2010 OSA

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3. R. Heideman, R. Kooyman, and J. Greve, “Performance of a highly sensitive optical waveguide Mach-Zehnder interferometer immunosensor,” Sens. Actuators B Chem. 10(3), 209–217 (1993). [CrossRef]
4. F. Prieto, B. Sepulveda, A. Calle, A. Llobera, C. Dominguez, and L. Lechuga, “Integrated Mach-Zehnder interferometer based on ARROW structures for biosensor applications,” Sens. Actuators B Chem. 92(1-2), 151–158 (2003). [CrossRef]
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6. R. Karlsson, “SPR for molecular interaction analysis: a review of emerging application areas,” J. Mol. Recognit. 17(3), 151–161 (2004). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
7. A. Densmore, D.-X. Xu, P. Waldron, S. Janz, P. Cheben, J. Lapointe, A. Delâge, B. Lamontagne, J. Schmid, and E. Post, “A silicon-on-insulator photonic wire based evanescent field sensor,” IEEE Photon. Technol. Lett. 18(23), 2520–2522 (2006). [CrossRef]
8. D.-X. Xu, A. Densmore, A. Delâge, P. Waldron, R. McKinnon, S. Janz, J. Lapointe, G. Lopinski, T. Mischki, E. Post, P. Cheben, and J. H. Schmid, “Folded cavity SOI microring sensors for high sensitivity and real time measurement of biomolecular binding,” Opt. Express 16(19), 15137–15148 (2008). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
9. A. L. Washburn, L. C. Gunn, and R. C. Bailey, “Label-free quantitation of a cancer biomarker in complex media using silicon photonic microring resonators,” Anal. Chem. 81(22), 9499–9506 (2009). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
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22. M.-S. Kwon and W. H. Steier, “Microring-resonator-based sensor measuring both the concentration and temperature of a solution,” Opt. Express 16(13), 9372–9377 (2008). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
23. H.-S. Lee, G.-D. Kim, and S.-S. Lee, “Temperature Compensated Refractometric Biosensor Exploiting Ring Resonators,” IEEE Photon. Technol. Lett. 21(16), 1136–1138 (2009). [CrossRef]
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27. J. Stepánek, H. Vaisocherová, and M. Piliarik, eds., Molecular Interactions in SPR Sensors (Springer, 2006).

Anal. Chem.

• A. L. Washburn, L. C. Gunn, and R. C. Bailey, “Label-free quantitation of a cancer biomarker in complex media using silicon photonic microring resonators,” Anal. Chem. 81(22), 9499–9506 (2009). [CrossRef] [PubMed]

Appl. Phys. Lett.

• G. Cocorullo, F. Della Corte, and I. Rendina, “Temperature dependence of the thermo-optic coefficient in crystalline silicon between room temperature and 550 K at the wavelength of 1523 nm,” Appl. Phys. Lett. 74(22), 3338 (1999). [CrossRef]

IEEE J. Sel. Top. Quantum Electron.

• A. Yalcin, K. Popat, J. Aldridge, T. Desai, J. Hryniewicz, N. Chbouki, B. Little, O. King, V. Van, S. Chu, D. Gill, M. Anthes-Washburn, M. S. Unlu, and B. B. Goldberg “Optical sensing of biomolecules using microring resonators,” IEEE J. Sel. Top. Quantum Electron. 12(1), 148–155 (2006). [CrossRef]
• M. Iqbal, M. Gleeson, B. Spaugh, F. Tybor, W. Gunn, M. Hochberg, T. Baehr-Jones, R. Bailey, and L. Gunn, “Label-Free Biosensor Arrays Based on Silicon Ring Resonators and High-Speed Optical Scanning Instrumentation,” IEEE J. Sel. Top. Quantum Electron. 16(3), 654–661 (2010). [CrossRef]

IEEE Photon. Technol. Lett.

• A. Densmore, D.-X. Xu, P. Waldron, S. Janz, P. Cheben, J. Lapointe, A. Delâge, B. Lamontagne, J. Schmid, and E. Post, “A silicon-on-insulator photonic wire based evanescent field sensor,” IEEE Photon. Technol. Lett. 18(23), 2520–2522 (2006). [CrossRef]
• H.-S. Lee, G.-D. Kim, and S.-S. Lee, “Temperature Compensated Refractometric Biosensor Exploiting Ring Resonators,” IEEE Photon. Technol. Lett. 21(16), 1136–1138 (2009). [CrossRef]
• S. Chu, B. Little, W. Pan, T. Kaneko, S. Sato, and Y. Kokubun, “An eight-channel add-drop filter using vertically coupled microring resonators over a cross grid,” IEEE Photon. Technol. Lett. 11(6), 691–693 (1999). [CrossRef]
• W. Ye, J. Michel, and L. Kimerling, “Athermal high-index-contrast waveguide design,” IEEE Photon. Technol. Lett. 20(11), 885–887 (2008). [CrossRef]

IEEE Photonics J.

• K. De Vos, J. Girones, T. Claes, Y. De Koninck, S. Popelka, E. Schacht, R. Baets, and P. Bienstman, “Multiplexed antibody detection with an array of silicon-on-insulator microring resonators,” IEEE Photonics J. 1(4), 225–235 (2009). [CrossRef]

J Biophotonics

• N. Jokerst, M. Royal, S. Palit, L. Luan, S. Dhar, and T. Tyler, “Chip scale integrated microresonator sensing systems,” J Biophotonics 2(4), 212–226 (2009). [CrossRef] [PubMed]

J. Lightwave Technol.

• J. Lee, D. Kim, H. Ahn, S. Park, and G. Kim, “Temperature dependence of silicon nanophotonic ring resonator with a polymeric overlayer,” J. Lightwave Technol. 25(8), 2236–2243 (2007). [CrossRef]

J. Mol. Recognit.

• R. Karlsson, “SPR for molecular interaction analysis: a review of emerging application areas,” J. Mol. Recognit. 17(3), 151–161 (2004). [CrossRef] [PubMed]

J. Opt. Soc. Am. B

• K. Tiefenthaler and W. Lukosz, “Sensitivity of grating couplers as integrated-optical chemical sensors,” J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 6(2), 209–220 (1989). [CrossRef]

Journalism

• B. Luff, J. Wilkinson, J. Piehler, U. Hollenbach, J. Ingenhoff, and N. Fabricius, ““Integrated optical Mach-Zehnder biosensor,” Lightwave Technology,” Journalism 16, 583–592 (1998). [CrossRef]

Opt. Express

• D.-X. Xu, A. Densmore, A. Delâge, P. Waldron, R. McKinnon, S. Janz, J. Lapointe, G. Lopinski, T. Mischki, E. Post, P. Cheben, and J. H. Schmid, “Folded cavity SOI microring sensors for high sensitivity and real time measurement of biomolecular binding,” Opt. Express 16(19), 15137–15148 (2008). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
• K. De Vos, I. Bartolozzi, E. Schacht, P. Bienstman, and R. Baets, “Silicon-on-Insulator microring resonator for sensitive and label-free biosensing,” Opt. Express 15(12), 7610–7615 (2007). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
• J. H. Schmid, W. Sinclair, J. García, S. Janz, J. Lapointe, D. Poitras, Y. Li, T. Mischki, G. Lopinski, P. Cheben, A. Delâge, A. Densmore, P. Waldron, and D.-X. Xu, “Silicon-on-insulator guided mode resonant grating for evanescent field molecular sensing,” Opt. Express 17(20), 18371–18380 (2009). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
• K. B. Gylfason, C. F. Carlborg, A. Kaźmierczak, F. Dortu, H. Sohlström, L. Vivien, C. A. Barrios, W. van der Wijngaart, and G. Stemme, “On-chip temperature compensation in an integrated slot-waveguide ring resonator refractive index sensor array,” Opt. Express 18(4), 3226–3237 (2010). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
• M.-S. Kwon and W. H. Steier, “Microring-resonator-based sensor measuring both the concentration and temperature of a solution,” Opt. Express 16(13), 9372–9377 (2008). [CrossRef] [PubMed]

Opt. Lett.

• D.-X. Xu, M. Vachon, A. Densmore, R. Ma, A. Delâge, S. Janz, J. Lapointe, Y. Li, G. Lopinski, D. Zhang, Q. Y. Liu, P. Cheben, and J. H. Schmid, “Label-free biosensor array based on silicon-on-insulator ring resonators addressed using a WDM approach,” Opt. Lett. 35(16), 2771–2773 (2010). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
• A. Densmore, M. Vachon, D.-X. Xu, S. Janz, R. Ma, Y.-H. Li, G. Lopinski, A. Delâge, J. Lapointe, C. C. Luebbert, Q. Y. Liu, P. Cheben, and J. H. Schmid, “Silicon photonic wire biosensor array for multiplexed real-time and label-free molecular detection,” Opt. Lett. 34(23), 3598–3600 (2009). [CrossRef] [PubMed]

Physica B

• H. El-Kashef, “The necessary requirements imposed on polar dielectric laser dye solvents–II,” Physica B 311(3-4), 376–379 (2002). [CrossRef]

Sens. Actuators B Chem.

• R. Heideman, R. Kooyman, and J. Greve, “Performance of a highly sensitive optical waveguide Mach-Zehnder interferometer immunosensor,” Sens. Actuators B Chem. 10(3), 209–217 (1993). [CrossRef]
• F. Prieto, B. Sepulveda, A. Calle, A. Llobera, C. Dominguez, and L. Lechuga, “Integrated Mach-Zehnder interferometer based on ARROW structures for biosensor applications,” Sens. Actuators B Chem. 92(1-2), 151–158 (2003). [CrossRef]
• J. Homola, S. Yee, and G. Gauglitz, “Surface plasmon resonance sensors: review,” Sens. Actuators B Chem. 54(1-2), 3–15 (1999). [CrossRef]

Other

• J. Stepánek, H. Vaisocherová, and M. Piliarik, eds., Molecular Interactions in SPR Sensors (Springer, 2006).
• E. Palik, Handbook of optical constants of solids II (Academic press, 1991).

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