Development of solid-state nanopore fabrication technologies

As the key components of nanopore-based nucleic acid sequencing systems, nanopores have drawn more and more scientific interests over these years. Although most of the early nanopore-based sequencers adopted biological nanopores, solid-state nanopores have been gradually growing in popularity due to their increased robustness and durability, control over pore geometry and surface properties, as well as compatibility with the existing semiconductor and microfluidics fabrication techniques. Besides acting as a platform for biomolecular analysis, solid-state nanopores also have great potential in many other fields such as near-field optics, nanostencil lithography and ionic logic circuitry, due to the possibility of parallel massive production. Therefore, many approaches for the fabrication of solid-state nanopores have been developed. This paper reviews the typical solid-state nanopore fabrication techniques reported to date and compares their advantages and disadvantages. The specific applications of each kind of solid-state nanopores are also summarized based on the carefully analysis of their unique morphologies and properties such as the feature size, inner structure and possibility of massive production.摘要作为基于纳米孔核酸测序系统的关键组成部分,近年来纳米孔在科研领域吸引了越来越多的研究兴趣。虽然早期基于纳米孔的测序系统大多数采用的是生物纳米孔,但由于固态纳米孔拥有更优异的鲁棒性和耐久性,且孔的几何结构及表面性质可控,并与现有的半导体和微流体制造技术相兼容等优势,因而愈来愈受到欢迎。由于高密度的固态纳米/纳米孔阵列可以被大规模的生产出来,固态纳米孔不但可以作为生物分子检测的平台,而且在很多其他领域也拥有广阔的应用前景,例如近场光学、纳米模板光刻和离子逻辑电路等。因此,研究人员已经开发出了各种各样的固态纳米孔制备方法。为了促进固态纳米孔制备技术的研究并拓展固态纳米孔的应用,本文对已经报道的各种典型的固态纳米孔制备方法进行了总结,详细剖析了各种固态纳米孔制备方法的工作机理,比较了各种方法在材料适用性、工艺可控性等各方面的优缺点。此外,在细致分析了各种固态纳米孔的特征,如纳米孔的极限尺寸、内部结构、能否并行大批量生产等的基础上,对不同固态纳米孔的潜在应用进行了总结。