| In recent years, a significant progress has been made in integrated biosensors for applications in medical diagnosis, environmental assessment and agricultural analysis. While the design of various biosensors, in particular surface plasmon resonance (SPR) biosensors, has been described in the literature, a robust, low-cost, and high sensitive solution has not yet been presented. The advent of nanotechnology presents numerous opportunities to this development with the introduction of novel transduction elements and bioreceptors permitting the development of sensitive and optimized interfaces.;A combination of a metal lift-off, electron-beam (e-beam) patterned polymeric resist and self-assembled monolayer is employed to create the designed interfaces. Two molecules are employed to functionalize the surface: one for the coupling of surface bioreceptors and a second for the surface passivation. There is a significant challenge in the characterization of these surfaces at the nanoscale. Atomic force microscopy, in phase contrast imaging mode, and scanning near-field optical microscopy are described for the imaging of the nano-patterned surface chemistry and topography.;Experimental measurements of the surface plasmon resonance response of the nano-patterned surface chemistries on 250 nm period and 15 nm high nano-gratings point also to an increased sensitivity. Compared to a planar surface, the nano-gratings exhibit a 4 times improvement, with respect to the angular plasmon resonance shift. The mapped functionalization to the grating mesas is thus found to be advantageous.;The novelty of this work lies in the demonstration that the careful design of biosensor interfaces, using a combination of surface structures and chemistry techniques can add significant sensitivity to existing surface plasmon resonance biosensors.;This thesis presents the design of an enhanced surface plasmon resonance biosensor interface with nano-structured surfaces and nano-patterned functionalization. Periodic structures (nano-gratings) with the exclusive localization of surface bioreceptors are numerically studied for improved surface plasmon resonance angular responses. Rigorous coupled-wave analyses show a field intensity concentration localized either on the troughs or mesas of the nano-gratings. The immobilization of surface bioreceptors onto areas of increased field strength, and consequently the concentration of the adsorbed analytes of interest, leads to a doubling of angular response compared to a uniformly functionalized interface. |
