0000000000215220
AUTHOR
Guillaume Legay
Surface plasmon near-field imaging of very thin microstructured polymer layers.
We report on the near-field imaging of microstructured polymer layers deposited on an homogeneous metal thin film on which a surface plasmon mode is excited. The microstructures in the polymer layers are designed by electron beam lithography, and the near-field imaging is performed with a photon scanning tunneling microscope (PSTM). We show that, despite their very small height, the microstructures can be conveniently imaged with a PSTM thanks to the field enhancement at the surface of the metal thin film supporting the surface plasmon. The influence of the illumination conditions on the contrast of the PSTM images is discussed. In particular, we show that both the field enhancement and the…
Direct measurement of the melting temperature of supported DNA by electrochemical method
The development of biosensors based on DNA hybridization requires a more precise knowledge of the thermodynamics of the hybridization at a solid interface. In particular, the selectivity of hybridization can be affected by a lot of parameters such as the single-strand (ss)DNA density, the pH, the ionic strength or the temperature. The melting temperature, T(m), is in part a function of the ionic strength and of the temperature and therefore provides a useful variable in the control of the selectivity and sensitivity of a DNA chip. The electrochemical technique has been used to determine the T(m) values when the probe is tethered by a DNA self-assembled monolayer (SAM). We have built a speci…
The Single Molecule Probe: Nanoscale Vectorial Mapping of Photonic Mode Density in a Metal Nanocavity
International audience; We use superresolution single-molecule polarization and lifetime imaging to probe the local density of states (LDOS) in a metal nanocavity. Determination of the orientation of the molecular transition dipole allows us to retrieve the different LDOS behavior for parallel and perpendicular orientations with respect to the metal interfaces. For the perpendicular orientation, a strong lifetime reduction is observed for distances up to 150 nm from the cavity edge due to coupling to surface plasmon polariton modes in the metal. Contrarily, for the parallel orientation we observe lifetime variations resulting from coupling to characteristic λ/2 cavity modes. Our results are…
Potential-assisted deposition of mixed alkanethiol self-assembled monolayers
Abstract Preparation of self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) usually involves passive incubation. The recently developed potential-assisted deposition is indeed more selective as well as 100-fold faster than passive adsorption, thereby enhancing the reproducibility of the monolayer deposition. This article aims to identify the electrodeposition conditions necessary to prepare mixed alkanethiol SAMs on gold surface. Parameters such as concentrations in solution, electrode polarization and deposition time were examined for two chain lengths, C 3 (mercaptopropionic acid, MPA) and C 18 (octadecanethiol, ODT). The kinetics and composition of the SAMs were systematically characterized by reductive st…
Changes in surface stress, morphology and chemical composition of silica and silicon nitride surfaces during the etching by gaseous HF acid
Abstract HF acid attack of SiO2 and Si3N4 substrates is analyzed to improve the sensitivity of a sensor based on microcantilever. Ex situ analysis of the etching using XPS, SIMS and AFM show significant changes in the anisotropy and the rate of the etching of the oxides on SiO2 and Si3N4 surface. Those differences influence the kinetic evolution of the plastic bending deflection of the cantilever coated with SiO2 and Si3N4 layer, respectively. The linear dependence between the HF concentration and the Si3N4 cantilever bending corresponds to a deep attack of the layer whereas the non-linear behavior observed for SiO2 layer can be explained by a combination of deep and lateral etching. The ca…
DNA nanofilm thickness measurement on microarray in air and in liquid using an atomic force microscope.
International audience; The measurement of the thickness of DNA films on microarray as a function of the medium (liquid, air) is gaining importance for understanding the signal response of biosensors. Thiol group has been used to attach DNA strands to gold micropads deposited on silicon surface. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) was employed in its height mode to measure the change in the pad thickness and in its force mode to measure the indentation depth of the nanofilm. A good coherence between the height and force modes is observed for the film thickness in air. The adhesion force was found to be an alternative way to measure the surface coverage of the biolayer at nanoscopic scale. However…
Caractérisation du plasma LIBS : réflexions, bonnes pratiques et conséquences analytiques
International audience; La matrice d'un échantillon est définie par l'IUPAC (International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry) comme les composants de l'échantillon autres que l'analyte. Et l'effet de matrice d'une technique analytique désignent alors l'effet combiné de tous les composants autres que l'analyte sur la mesure de sa quantité. Chose que l'on peut visualiser, par exemple, sur des droites d'étalonnage de pente différente pour différentes matrices. En LIBS, ces effets se traduisent physiquement par une interaction laser-surface et laser-plasma dépendant de la nature du matériau analysé, et induisant des variations de masse ablatée, de température et de densité électroniques d'un …
Measurements of thickness dispersion in biolayers by scanning force microscopy and comparison with spectroscopic ellipsometry analysis.
Measuring the thickness of biological films remains a difficult task when using differential measurements by atomic force microscopy (AFM). The use of microstructured substrates combined with a selective adsorption constitutes an alternative to tribological measurements. The statistical thickness analysis of biological layers, especially via the dispersion measurements, can provide a way to quantify the molecular orientation. AFM thicknesses were then compared with those obtained optically by spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE) and surface plasmon resonance enhanced ellipsometry (SPREE). The biolayers could then be modeled using a vertical gradient of optical index, which reflects height disper…
Far-field imaging of the electromagnetic local density of optical states.
International audience; We introduce a new experimental method to measure the local electromagnetic density of states (LDOS) by integrating the differential scattering cross section. The signal detected essentially reflects the intrinsic scattering response of the photonic structures and renders the partial LDOS dominated by evanescent modes. We give a theoretical understanding of the LDOS image formation and show a qualitative agreement between experimental images and theoretical maps. This approach can be practically applied to the direct measurement of an optical antenna's scattering efficiency and can provide valuable information for designing optimum structures utilized in radiative de…
Performance of interdigitated nanoelectrodes for electrochemical DNA biosensor.
An electrochemical methodology for bio-molecule sensing using an array of well-defined nanostructures is presented. We describe the fabrication by e-beam lithography of nanoelectrodes consisting of a 100 micro m x 50 micro m area containing interdigitated electrodes of 100 nm in width and interelectrode distance of 200 nm. Sensitivity and response time of the nanoelectrodes are compared to the responses of macro- and microelectrodes. The specificity of the sensor is studied by modifying the gold electrodes with DNA. The technique enables to characterize both single and double-stranded DNA of 15 nucleotides. A special electrochemical cell is adapted to control the temperature and measure the…