Diabetes is a fast growing metabolic disease, where the patients suffer from disordered glucose blood levels. Monitoring the blood glucose values in combination with extra insulin injection is currently the only therapy to keep the glucose concentration in diabetic patients under control, minimizing the long-term effects of elevated glucose concentrations and improving quality of life of the diabetic patients. Implantable sensors allow continuous glucose monitoring, offering the most reliable data to control the glucose levels. Infrared absorption spectrometers offer a non-chemical measurement method to determine the small glucose concentrations in blood serum. In this work, a spectrometer platform based on silicon photonics is presented, allowing the realization of very small glucose sensors suitable for building implantable sensors. A proof-of-concept of a spectrometer with integrated evanescent sample interface is presented, and the route towards a fully implantable spectrometer is discussed.

Date Published: 8 March 2014
PDF: 8 pages
Proc. SPIE 8989, Smart Photonic and Optoelectronic Integrated Circuits XVI, 89890P (8 March 2014); doi: 10.1117/12.2047366

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 8989:
Smart Photonic and Optoelectronic Integrated Circuits XVI
Louay A. Eldada; El-Hang Lee; Sailing He, Editor(s)