Selective Multidetection Using Nanopores

Through a Window, Brightly: A Review of Selected Nanofabricated Thin-Film Platforms for Spectroscopy, Imaging, and Detection

“…The insulating, impermeable SiN x thus acts as a physical barrier and as a support for the channel through which ions and molecules can pass under the influence of an electric field or other suitable driving force. [21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][211][212][213][214][215][216] The most common sensing configuration is the so-called resistive-pulse sensing mode (Fig. 10).…”

“…232 More specialized approaches exist alongside efforts to draw on conventional techniques such as atomic-layer deposition (ALD). 21,23,25,27,144,[224][225][226][227]230,233,234 Dielectric breakdown has emerged as a simple, yet extremely flexible and powerful, technique to fabricate nanopores: it requires little more than the usual apparatus used for nanopore sensing and instantly wets the nanopore (contrary to TEM-based methods, for example, where surface contamination poses wetting and other challenges). [235][236][237] In overview, nanopores as small as 1 nm in diameter and $10 nm long can be fabricated with some flexibility in fabrication method.…”

“…[17][18][19] Thin films with suitable properties and structures can also be used in a more active role in experimental studies: a $10 nm diameter channel through a < 100 nm thick thin film-a so-called nanopore-is the basis for a wide range of single molecule sensing and manipulation methods that emerge from the passage of a molecule into, or through, the nanofluidic channel. [20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29] Figure 1 offers two illustrations to illuminate the rich scope of experimental configurations and possibilities using just these two platforms. We will frame our discussion of the interplay between thin-film design-composition and structureand application by using these two quite different implementations: a sample cell with thin-film windows bracketing a nanofluidic channel; and a nanopore single molecule sensor platform where the robust thin film supports a nanofluidic through-channel.…”

“…[21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29] Extension of this single pore design to many pores allows the same thin-film platform to function as a high-throughput filter, with implications also for nanoplasmonics. 60,61 There are excellent reviews focusing on these two particular implementations alone, [21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29]38,40 and a recent book chapter reviewing both in a unifying context of nanofluidics. 20 We hope the present review will encourage an appreciation of the breadth of application of even an ostensibly prosaic free-standing thin-film structure across a host of spectroscopy, microscopy, and sensing techniques.…”

Solution-Based Photo-Patterned Gold Film Formation on Silicon Nitride

“…The field of nanopore single-molecule sensing offers compelling examples of the prospects of merging SiNx thin films and designer metal layers into devices, and does this within a nanofluidic context where the need for versatile metallizing approaches is clear. [3][4][5][6][7] The most common solid-state nanopores are <100 nm-diameter nanofluidic channels formed through <100 nm-thick, free-standing SiNx films, and nanopore-integrated metal films can enhance sensing capabilities by serving as optical elements such as light shields and plasmonic films, as electrodes for tunneling and other molecular control and sensing functions, and as a means to tune nanopore size and surface chemistry. [3][4][5][6][7][8] The nanoscale dimensions of the SiNx film and pore can be significant barriers to efforts to incorporate such functional metal films, particularly when the interior of the pore must be metallized.…”