Detection of DNA of genetically modified maize by a silicon nanowire field-effect transistor

Van Binh Pham, Xuan Thanh Tung Pham, Ngoc Thuy Duong Dang, Thi Thanh Tuyen Le, Phu Duy Tran, Thanh Chien Nguyen, Van Quoc Nguyen, Mau Chien Dang, Cees J M van Rijn and Duy Hien Tong

Abstract

A silicon nanowire field-effect transistor based sensor (SiNW-FET) has been proved to be the most sensitive and powerful device for bio-detection applications. In this paper, SiNWs were first fabricated by using our recently developed deposition and etching under angle technique (DEA), then used to build up the complete SiNW device based biosensor. The fabricated SiNW biosensor was used to detect DNA of genetically modified maize. As the DNA of the genetically modified maize has particular DNA sequences of 35S promoter, we therefore designed 21 mer DNA oligonucleotides, which are used as a receptor to capture the transferred DNA of maize. In our work, the SiNW biosensor could detect DNA of genetically modified maize with concentrations down to about 200?pM