Two-step breakdown of a SiN membrane for nanopore fabrication: Formation of thin portion and penetration

For the nanopore sensing of various large molecules, such as probe-labelled DNA and antigen-antibody complexes, the nanopore size has to be customized for each target molecule. The recently developed nanopore fabrication method utilizing dielectric breakdown of a membrane is simple and quite inexpen...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Scientific reports 2018-07, Vol.8 (1), p.10129-13, Article 10129
Main Authors: Yanagi, Itaru, Hamamura, Hirotaka, Akahori, Rena, Takeda, Ken-ichi
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
639/301/1005/1009
639/925/927/1058
9/10
Antigen-antibody complexes
Antigens
Aqueous solutions
Deoxyribonucleic acid
DNA
Electrodes
Fabrication
Humanities and Social Sciences
Membranes
Microscopy
multidisciplinary
Polarity
Polyethylene glycol
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Voltage
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Summary:For the nanopore sensing of various large molecules, such as probe-labelled DNA and antigen-antibody complexes, the nanopore size has to be customized for each target molecule. The recently developed nanopore fabrication method utilizing dielectric breakdown of a membrane is simple and quite inexpensive, but it is somewhat unsuitable for the stable fabrication of a single large nanopore due to the risk of generating multiple nanopores. To overcome this bottleneck, we propose a new technique called “two-step breakdown” (TSB). In the first step of TSB, a local conductive thin portion (not a nanopore) is formed in the membrane by dielectric breakdown. In the second step, the created thin portion is penetrated by voltage pulses whose polarity is opposite to the polarity of the voltage used in the first step. By applying TSB to a 20-nm-thick SiN membrane, a single nanopore with a diameter of 21–26 nm could be fabricated with a high yield of 83%.
ISSN:2045-2322
2045-2322
DOI:10.1038/s41598-018-28524-5