Importance of the Debye Screening Length on Nanowire Field Effect Transistor Sensors
Eric Stern(Yale University), Robin Wagner(Howard Hughes Medical Institute), Fred J. Sigworth(Howard Hughes Medical Institute), Ronald R. Breaker(Yale University), Tarek M. Fahmy(Yale University), Mark A. Reed(Yale University)
Cited by 777Open Access
Abstract
Nanowire field effect transistors (NW-FETs) can serve as ultrasensitive detectors for label-free reagents. The NW-FET sensing mechanism assumes a controlled modification in the local channel electric field created by the binding of charged molecules to the nanowire surface. Careful control of the solution Debye length is critical for unambiguous selective detection of macromolecules. Here we show the appropriate conditions under which the selective binding of macromolecules is accurately sensed with NW-FET sensors.