Date of Graduation

12-2011

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science in Microelectronics-Photonics (MS)

Degree Level

Graduate

Department

Microelectronics-Photonics

Advisor/Mentor

Taeksoo Ji

Committee Member

Taeksoo Ji

Second Committee Member

Sun-Ok Lee

Third Committee Member

Ken Vickers

Keywords

Biosensors, Biomedical, Zinc oxide, Nanorod

Abstract

The main aim of this research was to develop a nanorod based biosensor for biomedical applications. In this project I use zinc oxide nanorods as the bio-material for biosensor. I fabricated these nanorods using a solution-based technique. Initially I coated a zinc oxide seed layer as the base. This seed layer was then annealed at 350 degrees for almost 1 hour. As a next step, interdigitated electrodes were fabricated on the top of the seed layer using a lift off process. The zinc oxide nanorods were then grown at 90 degrees for almost 4 hours along the electrodes. In this project I have concentrated on making a biosensor for cancer applications, specifically for colon and lung cancer. Cancer specific antibodies, namely Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) were immobilized on the top of the nanorods whose effect was identified by measuring the IV characteristics across the electrodes. In this project, I made use the concept of covalent bonding, for which I had a cross linking layer before the immobilization of the antibodies. Nanorods, along with the antibodies, completed the fabrication of the whole sensor. In order to test the sensor, CEA antigens containing the target cells were passed over the device containing the nanorods and antibodies. The capturing of the target cells by the antibodies was confirmed by measuring the IV characteristics across the electrodes.

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