title: Lithography-free formation of nanopores in plastic membranes using laser heating.
abstract: Synthetic nanopores are a new class of single-molecule sensors capable of electronically detecting, counting, and characterizing biomolecules. There have been studies of nanopore formation in solid-state materials. This paper reports a novel lithography-free method of nanopore formation in plastic membranes fluidized using laser heating. It was found that the pore shrinking dynamics follows a universal behavior with the diameter of a pore decreasing linearly with time similar to that found in fluidized SiO(2). A theoretical model based on a surface-tension-driven mass flow mechanism is proposed to successfully explain the observed universality in the pore shrinking dynamics. We demonstrate the potential of this lithography-free nanofabrication technique in biomolecular sensing with a lambda-DNA detection experiment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island 02912, USA.
authors.forename: Shanshan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Sang Ryul
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Xinsheng Sean
authors.initials: XS
authors.lastname: Ling
mesh_terms: D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000737:chemistry; D007834:Lasers; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods; D043942:Nanotubes / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000528:radiation effects*; D010316:Particle Size; D012822:Silicon Dioxide / Q000737:chemistry; D013499:Surface Properties; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D012822:Silicon Dioxide