Patent ID: 9594022
Date: 2017-03-14
CPC Classifications: G01N

Claim:
1. A method for using a chemical-analysis device integrated with a metallic-nanofinger device for chemical sensing, said method comprising: exposing said chemical-analysis device integrated with said metallic-nanofinger device to a liquid, wherein the metallic-nanofinger device includes a plurality of nanofingers on which metallic caps are arranged; allowing sufficient time for said liquid to wet said plurality of nanofingers of said metallic-nanofinger device; purging said metallic-nanofinger device of said liquid; and allowing sufficient time for at least a first nanofinger and a second nanofinger of the plurality of nanofingers to self-arrange into a close-packed configuration with at least one analyte molecule disposed between at least a first metallic cap and a second metallic cap of said respective first nanofinger and second nanofinger, wherein each of the plurality of nanofingers includes a flexible column on which a metallic cap is arranged, wherein the plurality of nanofingers are to self-arrange through bending along the flexible columns, and wherein a morphology of said metallic caps is to generate a shifted plasmonic resonance peak associated with amplified luminescence from said at least one analyte molecule.