Patent ID: 6849321

Claim:
An analyte detector comprising a substrate possessing gradients in surface topography, comprising: (a) a support having a first end, a second end, and a region between the first end and the second end; (b) a metallized surface disposed over the support, wherein the metallized surface comprises a layer of metal with a surface topography that comprises repeating hills and valleys, wherein the metallized surface comprises a gradient wherein the layer of metal is thicker at the second end than it is at the first end and gradually changes in the region between the first end and the second end, and further wherein the hills are higher and the valleys are deeper at one end than they are at the other end and the height of the hills and the depth of the valleys gradually changes in the region between the first end and the second end of the support; (c) an optional adhesion promoting material disposed between the metallized surface and the support; (d) a self-assembled monolayer or a layer of protein attached to a top surface of the metallized surface; and (e) a liquid crystal disposed above the self-assembled monolayer or the layer of protein, wherein the anchoring energy of the liquid crystal disposed over the metallized surface varies across the surface from the first end of the support to the second end of the support, and an analyte bound to the surface disrupts the uniform alignment of the liquid crystal on regions of the surface with low anchoring energies, but does not disrupt the alignment of the liquid crystal on regions of the surface that possess high anchoring energies.