Fabrication of Zero Mode Waveguides for High Concentration Single Molecule MicroscopyKevin Y. Chen 1, Ryan M. Jamiolkowski 1, Alyssa M. Tate 1, Shane A. Fiorenza 2, Shawn H. Pfeil 2, Yale E. Goldman 1
1Pennsylvania Muscle Institute, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, 2Department of Physics, West Chester University
Described here is a nanosphere lithography method for parallel fabrication of zero mode waveguides, which are arrays of nanoapertures in a metal-clad glass microscopy coverslip for single molecule imaging at nano- to micromolar concentrations of fluorophores. The method takes advantage of colloidal crystal self-assembly to create a waveguide template.