title: A low-noise solid-state nanopore platform based on a highly insulating substrate.
abstract: A solid-state nanopore platform with a low noise level and sufficient sensitivity to discriminate single-strand DNA (ssDNA) homopolymers of poly-A40 and poly-T40 using ionic current blockade sensing is proposed and demonstrated. The key features of this platform are (a) highly insulating dielectric substrates that are used to mitigate the effect of parasitic capacitance elements, which decrease the ionic current RMS noise level to sub-10 pA and (b) ultra-thin silicon nitride membranes with a physical thickness of 5 nm (an effective thickness of 2.4 nm estimated from the ionic current) are used to maximize the signal-to-noise ratio and the spatial depth resolution. The utilization of an ultra-thin membrane and a nanopore diameter as small as 1.5 nm allow the successful discrimination of 40 nucleotide ssDNA poly-A40 and poly-T40. Overall, we demonstrate that this platform overcomes several critical limitations of solid-state nanopores and opens the door to a wide range of applications in single-molecule-based detection and analysis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul 151-742, Korea.
authors.forename: Min-Hyun
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul 151-742, Korea.
authors.forename: Ashvani
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul 151-742, Korea.
authors.forename: Kyeong-Beom
authors.initials: KB
authors.lastname: Park
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul 151-742, Korea.
authors.forename: Seong-Yong
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul 151-742, Korea.
authors.forename: Hyun-Mi
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Institute of Life Sciences and Resources and Department of Food Science and Biotechnology, College of Life Sciences, Kyung Hee University, Yongin 446-701, Korea.
authors.forename: Min-Cheol
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Lim
authors.affiliation: Institute of Life Sciences and Resources and Department of Food Science and Biotechnology, College of Life Sciences, Kyung Hee University, Yongin 446-701, Korea.
authors.forename: Young-Rok
authors.initials: YR
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: 1] Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul 151-742, Korea [2] WCU Hybrid Materials Program, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul 151-742, Korea.
authors.forename: Ki-Bum
authors.initials: KB
authors.lastname: Kim