hafnia and silicon-nitride

High-bandwidth measurements of the ion current through hafnium oxide and silicon nitride nanopores allow the analysis of sub-30 kD protein molecules with unprecedented time resolution and detection efficiency. Measured capture rates suggest that at moderate transmembrane bias values, a substantial fraction of protein translocation events are detected. Our dwell-time resolution of 2.5 μs enables translocation time distributions to be fit to a first-passage time distribution derived from a 1D diffusion-drift model. The fits yield drift velocities that scale linearly with voltage, consistent with an electrophoretic process. Further, protein diffusion constants (D) are lower than the bulk diffusion constants (D0) by a factor of ~50, and are voltage-independent in the regime tested. We reason that deviations of D from D0 are a result of confinement-driven pore/protein interactions, previously observed in porous systems. A straightforward Kramers model for this inhibited diffusion points to 9- to 12-kJ/mol interactions of the proteins with the nanopore. Reduction of μ and D are found to be material-dependent. Comparison of current-blockage levels of each protein yields volumetric information for the two proteins that is in good agreement with dynamic light scattering measurements. Finally, detection of a protein-protein complex is achieved.

Topics: Amino Acid Sequence; Biosensing Techniques; Hafnium; Membrane Potentials; Membranes, Artificial; Molecular Sequence Data; Nanopores; Oxides; Permeability; Proteins; Silicon Compounds

We present a study of double- and single-stranded DNA transport through nanopores fabricated in ultrathin (2-7 nm thick) freestanding hafnium oxide (HfO2) membranes. The high chemical stability of ultrathin HfO2 enables long-lived experiments with <2 nm diameter pores that last several hours, in which we observe >50 000 DNA translocations with no detectable pore expansion. Mean DNA velocities are slower than velocities through comparable silicon nitride pores, providing evidence that HfO2 nanopores have favorable physicochemical interactions with nucleic acids that can be leveraged to slow down DNA in a nanopore.

Topics: Biological Transport; Biopolymers; Biosensing Techniques; DNA; DNA, Single-Stranded; Hafnium; Materials Testing; Membranes, Artificial; Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; Microscopy, Electron, Transmission; Nanopores; Nanotechnology; Oxides; Polytetrafluoroethylene; Silicon Compounds; Surface Properties

Performance and reliability in semiconductor devices are limited by electronically active defects, primarily O-atom and N-atom vacancies. Synchrotron X-ray spectroscopy results, interpreted in the context of two-electron multiplet theories, have been used to analyze conduction band edge, and O-vacancy defect states in nano-crystalline transition metal oxides, e.g., HfO2, and the noncrystalline dielectrics, SiO2, Si3N4 and Si-oxynitride alloys. Two-electron multiplet theory been used to develop a high-spin state equivalent d2 model for O-vacancy allowed transitions and negative ion states as detected by X-ray absorption spectroscopy in the O K pre-edge regime. Comparisons between theory and experiment have used Tanabe-Sugano energy level diagrams for determining the symmetries and relative energies of intra-d-state transitions for an equivalent d2 ground state occupancy. Trap-assisted-tunneling, Poole-Frenkel hopping transport, and the negative bias temperature instability have been explained in terms of injection and/or trapping into O-atom and N-atom vacancy sites, and applied to gate dielectric, and metal-insulator-metal structures.

Topics: Computer Simulation; Crystallization; Electron Transport; Hafnium; Materials Testing; Models, Chemical; Nanostructures; Oxides; Oxygen; Semiconductors; Silicon Compounds; Silicon Dioxide; X-Ray Absorption Spectroscopy