Low-noise integrated nanopore sensors for high-bandwidth DNA analysis
Lead Inventors: Kenneth Shepard, Ph.D.; Jacob RosensteinProblem or Unmet Need:A nanopore sensor is an electrochemical device comprising two electrolyte reservoirs separated by a membrane containing a single nanoscale pore. When a voltage gradient between the reservoirs is established, charged molecules are drawn through the pore. The translocation of molecules through the pore results in transient changes in the pore's electrochemical conductance. These changes can theoretically be exploited to perform real-time sequencing of DNA. In practice, the use of nanopore sensors for DNA sequencing applications is hampered by the high bandwidth required to track molecules rapidly moving through a pore and the measurement noise introduced by parasitic capacitances associated with the nanopore membranes and external amplifiers in current nanopore sensor systems. The technology is a solid-state nanopore sensor system that integrates a low-noise transimpedance amplifier with an on-chip nanopore sensor. The on-chip sensor is fabricated by post-processing the surface of the die to create silver electrode surfaces coated with silver chloride. This configuration significantly reduces the parasitic capacitances associated with the membrane and amplifier and thereby enables more accurate high-bandwidth measurements.
By reducing the effects of parasitic capacitances on nanopore sensor measurements, the technology extends the useful bandwidth of nanopore sensors beyond 1MHz; current nanopore sensor technologies can only support measurement bandwidths below 100 kHz. Fabrication of the integrated nanopore sensor employed by the technology can be achieved with CMOS die post-processing that does not require the development of new foundry processes.
The technology can be used to perform accurate high-bandwidth electrochemical analysis of DNA molecules and other polymers. The technology can be used to develop compact biosensing devices with highly robust measurement capabilities.
The technology is a solid-state nanopore sensor system that integrates a low-noise transimpedance amplifier with an on-chip nanopore sensor. The on-chip sensor is fabricated by post-processing the surface of the die to create silver electrode surface...
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