Palladium electrodes for molecular tunnel junctions
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Updated: May 18, 2026

Monitoring Protein Adsorption with Solid-state Nanopores
Published on: December 2, 2011
Shuai Chang1, Suman Sen, Peiming Zhang
1Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA.
Abstract:
Gold has been the metal of choice for research on molecular tunneling junctions, but it is incompatible with complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor fabrication because it forms deep level traps in silicon. Palladium electrodes do not contaminate silicon, and also give higher tunnel current signals in the molecular tunnel junctions that we have studied. The result is cleaner signals in a recognition-tunneling junction that recognizes the four natural DNA bases as well as 5-methyl cytosine, with no spurious background signals. More than 75% of all the recorded signal peaks indicate the base correctly.
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