Recent progresses in slid-state nanopore and its application in biomolecule detection

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The nanopore device using nanometer scale pore either inserted or formed in the membrane which provides the only passage of the matter from the cis- and trans-chambers has been widely utilized in detecting biomolecules in a single molecule basis, with an ultimate goal of sequencing DNA in a single molecule basis. While there has been much progress in application of solid state nanopore devices, there still remain many important limitations for the practical application of this technology in biomolecule sensing. These includes, (a) high noise level of the present device, (b) need to find a method to control the translocation speed, (c) thick sensing zone, namely thick membrane thickness, (d) need a method to improve the capture rate, (e) the necessity of developing fast sensing instrument, for instance. Recently, we reported a new method of forming solid-state nanopore device which guarantees an extremely low noise (less than 10 pA) by fabricating device on pyrex substrate not on Si substrate. This device is also immune to optical pumping due to the large band gap of dielectric substrate. Therefore, concomitant measurement of electrical and optical sensing is now become possible. The impact of using low noise device in enhancing the signal-to-noise level will be demonstrated by few examples.