Wide-angle emission filter, optical sensor assembly having the same, PCR system having the same, and method of manufacturing the same
Inventors
Won, Jun Ho • Lee, Do Young • CHOI, Kyung Hak • CHOI, An Shik
Assignees
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Publication Number
US-10962477-B2
Publication Date
2021-03-30
Expiration Date
Abstract
The wide-angle emission filter includes a base matrix, a photoresist, and a colorant. The base matrix has a flat shape and including a transparent material. The base matrix does not generate fluorescent light or phosphorescent light by an excitation light. The photoresist is disposed in the base matrix. The photoresist is fixed in a solid state through at least one method selected from the group consisting of thermal hardening, photo hardening, and drying. The colorant is disposed in the base matrix and includes light having a predetermined wavelength range. The wide-angle emission filter filters the excitation light regardless of an incident angle of the excitation light.
Core Innovation
A wide-angle emission filter filters excitation light regardless of an incident angle of the excitation light. The wide-angle emission filter includes a flat transparent base matrix that does not generate fluorescent light or phosphorescent light by the excitation light. A photoresist is disposed in the base matrix and is fixed in a solid state through thermal hardening, photo hardening, and/or drying. A colorant is disposed in the base matrix and includes light having a predetermined wavelength range.
The photoresist is mixed with the colorant and disposed in the base matrix so that the photoresist, the colorant, and the base matrix form a same layer. The photoresist comprises a semi-solidified photoresist, which is not completely saturated by light having a short wavelength. The excitation light is firstly filtered by the colorant, and the semi-solidified photoresist is configured to secondly filter the excitation light to form a secondly filtered semi-solidified photoresist.
An optical sensor assembly and a PCR system integrate the wide-angle emission filter with optical sensing and temperature control. In the optical sensor assembly, an optical sensor substrate includes a base substrate integrally formed with the wide-angle emission filter and an optical sensor array buried in an upper portion of the base substrate to sense luminance of emission light having passed through the wide-angle emission filter. In the PCR system, a reaction space disposed on the wide-angle emission filter receives a specimen for PCR, and a central processing unit calculates an amount of gene amplification from optical sensing signals to generate a temperature control signal used by temperature controlling parts.
Claims Coverage
The partial content identifies three independent claims: wide-angle emission filter, optical sensor assembly, and PCR system. Across these claims, the inventive structure combines an incident-angle-invariant wide-angle emission filter with a transparent non-fluorescent/non-phosphorescent base matrix, and uses a two-stage excitation-light filtering behavior driven by a colorant first and a semi-solidified photoresist second, with the photoresist and colorant forming the same layer within the base matrix.
Incident-angle-invariant wide-angle emission filter with transparent non-fluorescent base matrix
A wide-angle emission filter filters excitation light regardless of an incident angle of the excitation light, using a base matrix having a flat shape and including a transparent material that does not generate fluorescent light or phosphorescent light by the excitation light.
Two-stage excitation-light filtering by colorant then semi-solidified photoresist
The photoresist comprises a semi-solidified photoresist, which is not completely saturated by light having a short wavelength; the excitation light is firstly filtered by the colorant; and the semi-solidified photoresist is configured to secondly filter the excitation light to form a secondly filtered semi-solidified photoresist.
Same-layer mixture of photoresist and colorant in base matrix
The photoresist is mixed with the colorant and is disposed in the base matrix; and the photoresist, the colorant, and the base matrix form a same layer.
Optical sensor assembly with integrally formed filter and buried array sensing transmitted emission luminance
An optical sensor assembly includes a wide-angle emission filter configured to filter excitation light regardless of an incident angle and to transmit emission light having a wavelength greater than the excitation light, and an optical sensor substrate including a base substrate integrally formed with the wide-angle emission filter and an optical sensor array including a plurality of optical sensors buried in an upper portion of the base substrate and arranged in an array shape to sense luminance of the emission light having passed through the wide-angle emission filter.
PCR system with reaction space on wide-angle emission filter and reader-based temperature control
A polymerase chain reaction (PCR) system comprising a PCR module including an optical sensor substrate with an optical sensor array to sense luminance of emission light having passed through the wide-angle emission filter to generate an optical sensing signal; a reaction space disposed on the wide-angle emission filter to receive a specimen in which PCR is performed; and a first temperature controlling part to control temperature in the reaction space, and a reader system including a central processing unit receiving the optical sensing signal to calculate an amount of gene amplification based on the optical sensing signal to generate the temperature control signal, and a second temperature controlling part connected to the central processing unit to control temperature of the PCR module.
The independent claims share a common filtering architecture: a wide-angle emission filter that filters excitation light regardless of incident angle using a transparent base matrix that does not generate fluorescent/phosphorescent light, together with a two-stage excitation-light filtering sequence where a colorant firstly filters and a semi-solidified photoresist secondly filters. The optical sensor assembly and PCR system further integrate this filter with an optical sensor array and use sensing of transmitted emission light to support luminance sensing and gene amplification calculation with temperature control.
Stated Advantages
Cost.
Mobility and point-of-care.
Improved sensor signal accuracy.
Angle-invariant blocking of excitation light with improved stability compared to DBR or no-filter cases, as described via comparative/embodiment results using quantum efficiency versus incident angle.
Documented Applications
A disposable/one-time test context for the optical components, as reflected in dependent claim refinements referencing disposable and only one time test.
An optical sensor assembly that senses luminance of emission light having passed through the wide-angle emission filter.
A polymerase chain reaction (PCR) system that performs PCR in a reaction space disposed on the wide-angle emission filter and calculates an amount of gene amplification based on an optical sensing signal.
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