Silicon Nanowire Field-effect-transistor-based Biosensor for Biomedical Applications

Abstract

The quantification and detection of biochemical species are of utmost importance for biomedical applications. Silicon nanowire field-effect transistors (SiNW-FETs) have recently attracted tremendous attention as a promising tool in biosensor design because of their ultrahigh sensitivity, selectivity, and label-free and real-time detection capabilities. Here, we review the device fabrication and biomedical applications of SiNW-FET sensors. CMOS-compatible approaches for SiNW fabrication are reported. The applications of SiNW-FETs in the fields of biomedical sciences are discussed. SiNW-FETs have been employed in the detections of, for example, pH, DNA, nucleic acid, proteins, and cancer biomarkers. The major limitations and future directions of SiNW-FET nanosensors are also discussed. In this paper, we clearly show the great potential of SiNW-FET devices as powerful new tools in biological and medical diagnostics.

Capacitive Field-Effect EIS Chemical Sensors and Biosensors: A Status Report

“…Due to the small size and weight, fast response time, label-free operation, possibility of real-time and multiplexed measurements, and compatibility with micro- and nanofabrication technologies with the future prospect of a large-scale production at relatively low cost, semiconductor field-effect devices (FEDs) based on an electrolyte-insulator-semiconductor (EIS) system are one of the most exciting approaches for chemical and biological sensing. Ion-sensitive field-effect transistors (ISFET) [ 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 ], extended-gate ISFETs [ 6 ], capacitive EIS sensors [ 7 , 8 , 9 ], light-addressable potentiometric sensors [ 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 ], silicon nanowire FETs (SiNW-FET) [ 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 ], graphene-based FETs [ 18 , 19 ], and carbon nanotube-based FETs [ 18 , 20 ] constitute typical examples of transducer structures for chemically/biologically sensitive FEDs. At present, numerous FEDs modified with respective recognition elements have been developed for the detection of pH, ion concentrations, substrate–enzyme reactions, nucleic acid hybridizations, and antigen–antibody affinity reactions, just to name a few.…”

Advances in airborne microorganisms detection using biosensors: A critical review

“…Nanomaterials have been extensively applied in the research of biosensors, greatly promoting the development of biosensors. Nano-functionalized materials are used as electroactive markers (Xiao et al, 2020), enrichment materials (Briceno et al, 2019), signal carriers (Gao et al, 2018), and catalysts (Xie et al, 2019a) for signal amplification.…”

“…In recent years, nanomaterials have been introduced into sensors to manufacture a large number of high-sensitivity sensing systems, which have excellent performance and long-term stability (Gao et al, 2018). Shen et al combined sensors with silicon nanowires to develop a real-time bioaerosol sensing system, which can observe the conductance changes of H3N2 viruses in a few seconds (Shen et al, 2011).…”

Capacitive Field-Effect Biosensor Studying Adsorption of Tobacco Mosaic Virus Particles

“…These first successful experiments underline the potential to integrate TMV/bioreceptor hybrids with electronic transducers. Since field-effect sensors are able to directly convert specific (bio)molecular interactions into electrical signals, they have been widely applied such as for the detection of enzymatic reactions, cell acidification and cellular signals, DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid), antibody-antigen affinity binding, neurotransmitters, and viruses (see e.g., [ 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 ]). The functionalization of field-effect sensors with TMV nanocarriers enables a universal approach to engineer a large variety of biosensors and biochips.…”