Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 March 2011
We aim to utilize the high surface area of a porous silicon (PSi) matrixcoupled with semiconductor quantum dot (QD) amplifiers for ultrasensitiveoptical detection of small biomolecules using a dual-mode detection scheme.In our system, QDs attached to the target biomolecule serve as signalamplifiers by providing an additional refractive index increase beyond thatof the smaller target molecules. The strong photoluminescence (PL) from theQDs serves as a secondary indication of target molecule attachment in thepores. A resulting increase in optical thickness of ∼190 nm and detectionsensitivity of ∼700 nm/RIU have been demonstrated for attachment ofglutathione capped CdTe QDs in the porous silicon matrix. Reflectance and PLmeasurements, combined with simulations, have been used to characterize thesurface area coverage of the QDs within the porous framework, which isestimated at 10% for glutathione capped CdTe QDs.