Dense Functionalized-Nanowire Biosensor Arrays

The report describes technical progress toward a highly sensitive and selective molecular electronic sensor system. The effort uses state-of-the-art approaches for analyte detection and sensor design. The sensor system consists of a functionalized semiconductor nanowire matrix with a combination of different receptors (that range from highly specific nucleic acid reporters to broadband simple chemical reporters). A gating scheme provides a unique advantage that selectively tunes portions of the array to specific reactions, which enhances sensitivity and selectivity. This approach challenges the limits of detectability; a semiconductor nanowire FET which could scale to single molecule detection (and high density); and ultra sensitive nucleotide switches with unique selectivity and sensitivity.