Evanescent field Sensors Based on Tantalum Pentoxide Waveguides – A Review.docVIP

Sensors 2008, 8, 711-738 sensors ISSN 1424-8220 ? 2007 by MDPI /sensors Review Evanescent field Sensors Based on Tantalum Pentoxide Waveguides – A Review Katrin Schmitt 1, Kerstin Oehse 2, Gerd Sulz 1 and Christian Hoffmann 2,* 1 Fraunhofer Institute for Physical Measurement Techniques, Heidenhofstr. 8, 79110 Freiburg, Germany 2 Institute for Bioprocessing and Analytical Measurement Techniques, Rosenhof, 37308 Heilbad Heiligenstadt, Germany * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; Tel +49 3606 671 196, Fax +49 3606 671 200, E-mail: christian.hoffmann@iba-heiligenstadt.de Received: 5 November 2007 / Accepted: 29 January 2008 / Published: 6 February 2008 Abstract: Evanescent field sensors based on waveguide surfaces play an important role where high sensitivity is required. Particularly tantalum pentoxide (Ta2O5) is a suitable material for thin-film waveguides due to its high refractive index and low attenuation. Many label-free biosensor systems such as grating couplers and interferometric sensors as well as fluorescence-based systems benefit from this waveguide material leading to extremely high sensitivity. Some biosensor systems based on Ta2O5 waveguides already took the step into commercialization. This report reviews the various detection systems in terms of limit of detection, the applications, and the suitable surface chemistry. Keywords: biosensors, evanescent field, label-free detection, Ta2O5. 1. Introduction During the last years biosensors based on waveguide technology have attracted increasing attention due to their versatility and ability for use in medium and high throughput applications. Among waveguide-based biosensors, those relying on high refractive index materials such as Ta2O5 are of special interest due to their high stability and high sensitivity, allowing efficient excitation of fluorophores on the waveguide surface in fluorescence-base