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Detecting the translocation of DNA through a nanopore using graphene nanoribbons

Nature Nanotechnology volume 8, pages 939–945 (2013)Cite this article

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Abstract

Solid-state nanopores can act as single-molecule sensors and could potentially be used to rapidly sequence DNA molecules. However, nanopores are typically fabricated in insulating membranes that are as thick as 15 bases, which makes it difficult for the devices to read individual bases. Graphene is only 0.335 nm thick (equivalent to the spacing between two bases in a DNA chain) and could therefore provide a suitable membrane for sequencing applications. Here, we show that a solid-state nanopore can be integrated with a graphene nanoribbon transistor to create a sensor for DNA translocation. As DNA molecules move through the pore, the device can simultaneously measure drops in ionic current and changes in local voltage in the transistor, which can both be used to detect the molecules. We examine the correlation between these two signals and use the ionic current measurements as a real-time control of the graphene-based sensing device.

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Figure 1: Schematics and characterization of the GNR transistor–nanopore measuring set-up.
Figure 2: Fabrication of a solid-state nanopore with a GNR transistor.
Figure 3: Simultaneous detection of DNA translocations in ionic and graphene current.
Figure 4: Event correlation graphs display events detected both in ionic and graphene current.
Figure 5: Equivalent circuit diagrams for a GNR nanopore device.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported financially by the European Research Council (grant no. 259398, PorABEL: Nanopore Integrated Nanoelectrodes for Biomolecular Manipulation and Sensing). F.T. was partially financed by an FP7 nanoDNA sequencing grant. C.R. was financed by a grant from the Swiss SystemsX.ch initiative (IPhD), evaluated by the Swiss National Science Foundation. M.B. and D.K. were supported by grants from the Swiss National Science Foundation (grants nos 122044 and 135046). The authors thank the Centre Interdisciplinaire de Microscopie Electronique (CIME) at EPFL for access to electron microscopes, and special thanks go to D.T.L. Alexander for providing training and technical assistance with TEM. Device fabrication was partially carried out at the EPFL Center for Micro/Nanotechnology (CMi). The authors thank A. Ionescu and Nanolab (EPFL) for access to Advance Design System (ADS) software and A. Bazigos for help with ADS. Thanks go to V. Russo and C.S. Casari of the Politecnico di Milano for Raman spectroscopy on graphene, P. Granjon (Grenoble Institute of Technology) for help with the crosstalk analysis, and all LBEN laboratory members for reviewing the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Nanoscale Biology, Institute of Bioengineering, School of Engineering, EPFL, Lausanne, 1015, Switzerland

    F. Traversi, C. Raillon, K. Liu, S. Khlybov & A. Radenovic

  2. Laboratory of Nanoscale Electronics and Structure, Institute of Electrical Engineering, School of Engineering, EPFL, Lausanne, 1015, Switzerland

    S. M. Benameur, M. Tosun, D. Krasnozhon & A. Kis

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  1. F. Traversi
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Contributions

F.T., A.K. and A.R. designed the research. F.T. and A.R. designed and built the measurement set-up. F.T. fabricated and characterized devices, performed experiments and analysed the data. K.L. performed experiments and analysed the data. C.R. and M.B. worked on the first generation of devices based on exfoliated graphene. S.K. performed COMSOL modelling. M.T. and D.K. performed CVD graphene growth and transfer. F.T., A.K. and A.R. wrote the paper.

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Correspondence to A. Radenovic.

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Traversi, F., Raillon, C., Benameur, S. et al. Detecting the translocation of DNA through a nanopore using graphene nanoribbons. Nature Nanotech 8, 939–945 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2013.240

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