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Sensor100
March 2017
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Silicon Nanowires Improve Fabrication ofTransistor-
based Biosensors
Korean researchers are improving the fabrication of transistor-based biosensors by
using silicon nanowires on their surface. When molecules bind on a field-effect tran-
sistor, a change happens in the surface’s electric charge.This makes FETs good candi-
dates for detecting biological and chemical elements. Dual-gate FETs are particularly
good candidates because they amplify this signal several times. But they can still be
improved. The team used a method called ‘nanoimprint lithography’ to fabricate sili-
con nanowires onto the surface of a DG FET and compared its sensitivity and stability
with conventional DG FETs.
The team found that their device was more stable and sensitive than conventional
DG FETs.“We expect that the silicon-nanowire DG FET sensor proposed here could
be developed into a promising label-free sensor for various biological events, such as
enzyme-substrate reactions, antigen-antibody bindings and nucleic acid hybridizations
[a method used to detect gene sequences],” conclude the researchers in their study
published in the journal Science and Technology of Advanced Materials.
Reported by:
ACN Newswire 28 February
[Left] Schematic of a DG FET, [middle] SEM image of a cross-section of
SiNWs fabricated on a silicon-on-insulator wafer and [right] change in
the response voltage of planar and SiNW pH sensors for a wide range
of pH (3–10). (c)2016 Cheol-Min Lim, In-Kyu Lee, Ki Joong Lee,Young
Kyoung Oh,Yong-Beom Shin andWon-Ju Cho.