This technology is an integrated solid-state nanopore sensor system for the electrochemical analysis of DNA molecules and other polymers that significantly improves a system’s signal-to-noise ratio.
There is demand for DNA sequencing systems to be single-molecule, massively parallel, and real-time. A nanopore sensor can detect translocation of charged molecules, such as nucleic acids, through the pore by measuring transient changes in the pore’s electrochemical conductance. However, many nanopore sequencer technologies employ an external amplifier to increase the electrical signal of these single molecules, a design which introduces parasitic capacitance and noise to the system. While these sequencers have found some success, there remains a push to reduce the error rate of these systems without sacrificing throughput or cost.
This technology is a solid-state nanopore sensor system that integrates a low-noise transimpedance amplifier with an on-chip nanopore sensor. The sensor is fabricated by post-processing the surface of a die to create a sensitive electrode surface, which is directly integrated into the preamplifier, rather than remaining external. This configuration significantly reduces the parasitic capacitances associated with the membrane and amplifier by a factor of up to ten fold and thereby enables more accurate high-bandwidth measurements for single-molecule electrochemical DNA analysis, all without adding new components or sacrificing throughput.
IR M11-069
Licensing Contact: Greg Maskel