Tri-Layer Solid-State Nanopore Arrays with Crosstalk Suppression for High-Throughput, Femtomolar-Level Biosensing

Area of Science:

• Nanotechnology
• Biosensing
• Materials Science

Background:

• Solid-state nanopore arrays are promising for label-free biosensing.
• Current limitations include inter-pore crosstalk and fabrication variability.
• Overcoming these challenges is crucial for practical applications.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a novel multilayer nanopore architecture for improved biosensing.
• To address inter-pore crosstalk and fabrication uniformity issues.
• To enable rational design and high-throughput deployment of nanopore biosensors.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of a multilayer Al2O3/Au/Si3N4 nanopore architecture using helium ion beam lithography.
• Finite-element analysis to determine optimal inter-pore spacing for minimizing electric field coupling.
• Design and fabrication of nanopore arrays with controlled pore size and spacing.

Main Results:

• Identified critical inter-pore spacing (approx. 20x pore radius) to reduce crosstalk.
• Achieved nanopore arrays with ~30 nm pores, <5% size variation, and 300 nm spacing for independent signal acquisition.
• Demonstrated label-free detection of alpha-fetoprotein down to ~3 fM with a wide dynamic range.

Conclusions:

• The developed multilayer nanopore architecture effectively minimizes crosstalk and enhances fabrication uniformity.
• The platform enables statistically independent, parallel signal acquisition for high-throughput biosensing.
• This work establishes a foundation for rational design and scalable deployment of advanced solid-state nanopore biosensors.