Richard Soref, a researcher affiliated with the University of Massachusetts Boston, proposed a UV fluorescence sensing chip that combines AlGaN and silicon photonic components on a sapphire base. The October 9 arXiv paper, which has not undergone peer review, describes an on-chip AlGaN vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser operating at either 280 or 310 nm to excite a sample, with a silicon photodiode detecting its fluorescence.

The proposed 2-by-5-centimetre layout integrates the source, sample area, detector and readout electronics on sapphire without lenses, prisms or mirrors. The paper describes measuring fluorescence in the 300–540 nm range and co-packaging a laser driver, amplifier, ADC, microcontroller, small battery and wireless or Ethernet connection. It discusses eight possible biological and chemical sensing applications, but this is a single-author design proposal, not a fabricated chip or a sensor experimentally validated with analytes. The first page lists Soref at the Engineering Department of the University of Massachusetts Boston.