Noise in nanopore sensors: Sources, models, reduction, and benchmarking

Abstract

Label-free nanopore sensors have emerged as a new generation technology of DNA sequencing and have been widely used for single molecule analysis. Since the first α-hemolysin biological nanopore, various types of nanopores made of different materials have been under extensive development. Noise represents a common challenge among all types of nanopore sensors. The nanopore noise can be decomposed into four components in the frequency domain (1/f noise, white noise, dielectric noise, and amplifier noise). In this work, we reviewed and summarized the physical models, origins, and reduction methods for each of these noise components. For the first time, we quantitatively benchmarked the root mean square (RMS) noise levels for different types of nanopores, demonstrating a clear material-dependent RMS noise. We anticipate this review article will enhance the understanding of nanopore sensor noises and provide an informative tutorial for developing future nanopore sensors with a high signal-to-noise ratio.

Selectively detecting attomolar concentrations of proteins using gold lined nanopores in a nanopore blockade sensor

“…S2A in the ESI † provides the schematic of main sources in PSD noises including four components, i.e., icker (also referred to as 1/f), thermal, dielectric and capacitance noises. 22,23 First, a potential bias was applied across the nanopore chip, which led to an increased 1/f noise and a steeper slope of the 1/f dependent noise along with increasing the potential (Fig. 3C).…”

Four Aspects about Solid‐State Nanopores for Protein Sensing: Fabrication, Sensitivity, Selectivity, and Durability

“…The sensitivity of nanopore sensors greatly depends on electrical current noise that coexists with translocation signal. [ 90–93 ] Researches have been focused on two sources of noise in nanopore sensors: 1) dielectric noise and 2) flicker noise (or 1/ f noise). The dielectric noise dominates at high frequency (>1 kHz) in power spectrum density and significantly affects I RMS .…”

Phototaxis Motion Behavior of a Self‐propelled Submarine‐like Water Droplet Robot in Oil Solvent

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