Label-free Silicon nanowire field effect transistor for impedance-based sensing of molecules

POSTER

Abstract

Impedance biosensors are promising electrical biosensors due to low cost, ease of miniaturization and label-free operation. Recent investigations on impedance measurement yield a wealth of information about different molecular motion and relaxation process, utilizing a wide frequency range from 10uHz to 1THz, which typically measure the impedance between two large chemically modified electrodes as target molecules bind to the surface. Our question is: can we scale this method down to single molecule level by matching the size of the whole device with that of the target molecules, which falls in the 10-100 nm length scale, and integrating the amplifier directly within such nano-electrodes? Here we will show our prototype devices based on silicon nanowire field-effect transistors (SiNW FETs) with a paired-gate structure. We will discuss the basic characteristics of these devices and demonstrate proof-of-concept results of pH sensing with high-frequency gate modulation. Our results will be further developed to a new platform for the enrichment and detection of low-copy biomolecules in physiological environments.

Authors

  • Yuan Wang

    Arizona State University

  • Scott D. Bergesen

    Santa Fe Institute, Arizona State University, Department of Physics and Center for Biological Physics, Arizona State University, Brigham Young University Department of Physics and Astronomy, Brigham Young University, Utah Valley University, Dixie State College, Advisor, Student, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Laboratory, Colorado College, United States Air Force Academy, Georgia Institute of Technology, Utah State University, Brigham Young University - Idaho, Utah State University- Logan, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Humboldt State University, UC Santa Cruz, Institut de Chimie des Substances Naturelles, Arizona State Univ, University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, National Jewish Health, Department of Physics, The University of Texas at Austin, Department of Physics, New Mexico State University, U. S. Air Force Academy, Brigham Young Univ - Provo, University of New South Wales, University of Texas, University of Warwick, University of Louisiana, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah 84602, USA., Center for Materials Genomics, Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science and Department of Physics, Duke University, Durham, North Ca, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina., Brigham Young University -- Provo, Utah, General Atomics -- San Diego, California, Department of Mathematics, University of British Columbia, Department of Physics, Arizona State University, UC Riverside, UMASS, STScI, NOAO, UT Austin, Texas A&M, Arizona State Univeristy, New Mexico State Univ, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Colorado State Univ, Department of Physics, Oregon State University, Colorado School of Mines, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, The Peac Institute of Multiscale Modeling, UNSW Canberra