Fabrication and verification of DNA functionalized nanopore with gold layer embedded structure for bio-molecular sensing

Solid-state nanopore has been attracted by its great potential for bio-molecular analysis. Nanopore is considered as promising tools for label-free single-molecule detection. As one of the techniques of nanopores, chemically modified or functionalized nanopore is considered to be a great candidate for a bio-molecule sensor. In this work, gold layer embedded nanopore was used for specific functionalization, because Au layer provides a specific binding sites for thiol (organosulfur compound) modified DNA (tm-DNA). In order to make Au layer embedded nanopore, focused Ga ion beam is used to drill a nanopore. Au layer was inserted to 20nm Si₃N₄ layer, which was drilled by Ga focused ion beam and functionalized by single strained DNA (SS-DNA). SS-DNA has fluorescence dye, and thiol at the each end of DNA. Functionalized nanopore was verified by analysis of fluorescence detection image.