A third-order mode high frequency biosensor with atomic resolution.
An atomic resolution ultra-high sensitivity surface acoustic wave (SAW) biosensor for DNA sequences and cells detection is proposed. Interdigitated transducers (IDTs) fabricated on LiNbO3 substrate achieve a high quality factor (Q) of over 4000 at a frequency of 6.4 GHz (third-order harmonic mode) using an optimized design and process. The biosensor shows excellent linear responses to target DNA in the range from 1 μg/ml to 1 ng/ml with a high sensitivity of 6.7 × 10(-16)g/cm(2)/Hz, hence the difference of a single hybridized DNA base can also be distinguished. With such a high mass resolution, the biosensor is capable of quantitative detection of living cancer cells. The frequency responses of single mouse mammary adenocarcinoma (EMT6) cell and mouse fibroblast (3T3) cell are studied. The interferences in the experiments show insignificant influence on the frequency shift, which verifies the high selectivity of the biosensor. The biosensor is also able to repeat the sensing ability after rough cleaning, therefore cost reduction is achieved from the recycling process in practical applications. The detection limit is defined from the noise analysis of the device, atomic resolution is realized according to the calculation, thereby initiating a potential tool for high-precision medical diagnoses and phenomena observation at the atomic-level.
Institute of Microelectronics, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China; Tsinghua National Laboratory for Information and Science Technology (TNList), Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
Hua-Lin
HL
Cai
Institute of Microelectronics, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China; Tsinghua National Laboratory for Information and Science Technology (TNList), Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
Yi
Y
Yang
Institute of Microelectronics, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China; Tsinghua National Laboratory for Information and Science Technology (TNList), Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
Xiao
X
Chen
Institute of Microelectronics, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China; Tsinghua National Laboratory for Information and Science Technology (TNList), Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
Mohammad Ali
MA
Mohammad
Institute of Microelectronics, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China; Tsinghua National Laboratory for Information and Science Technology (TNList), Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
Tian-Xiang
TX
Ye
Department of Biomedical Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
Cang-Ran
CR
Guo
Department of Biomedical Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
Li-Ting
LT
Yi
Institute of Microelectronics, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China; Tsinghua National Laboratory for Information and Science Technology (TNList), Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
Chang-Jian
CJ
Zhou
Department of Biomedical Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
Jing
J
Liu
Institute of Microelectronics, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China; Tsinghua National Laboratory for Information and Science Technology (TNList), Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China. Electronic address: RenTL@tsinghua.edu.cn.
Tian-Ling
TL
Ren
D016475:3T3 Cells; D000162:Acoustics / Q000295:instrumentation*; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D015374:Biosensing Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation*; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D004247:DNA / Q000032:analysis*; D004867:Equipment Design; D057230:Limit of Detection; D051379:Mice; D009556:Niobium / Q000737:chemistry; D010087:Oxides / Q000737:chemistry; D013016:Sound; D014159:Transducers
D010087:Oxides; D009556:Niobium; C091692:lithium niobate; D004247:DNA
Atomic resolution; Cancer cell; DNA; High frequency; Label free; SAW biosensor