Subthreshold Regime has the Optimal Sensitivity for Nanowire FET Biosensors
Open accessAbstract
Nanowire field-effect transistors (NW-FETs) are emerging as powerful sensors for detection of chemical/biological species with various attractive features including high sensitivity and direct electrical readout. Yet to date there have been limited systematic studies addressing how the fundamental factors of devices affect their sensitivity. Here we demonstrate that the sensitivity of NW-FET sensors can be exponentially enhanced in the subthreshold regime where the gating effect of molecules bound on a surface is the most effective due to the reduced screening of carriers in NWs. This principle is exemplified in both pH and protein sensing experiments where the operational mode of NW-FET biosensors was tuned by electrolyte gating. The lowest charge detectable by NW-FET sensors working under different operational modes is also estimated. Our work shows that optimization of NW-FET structure and operating conditions can provide significant enhancement and fundamental understanding for the sensitivity limits of NW-FET sensors.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Sensitivity of FET-based biosensors is maximum when operated in the subthreshold regime.
“biosensor sensitivity has been shown to be maximum when the biosensor is operated in the subthreshold regime (11,12).”
From On the origin of enhanced sensitivity in nanoscale FET-based biosensors (2014) · cites this paper as [12]
The paper reports that nanowire FET biosensors have their highest percentage conductance response and best charge-detection limit in the subthreshold regime (passage 1, section labeled Abstract). It says the findings may have implications for other FET sensors, but does not establish that sensitivity is maximal there for FET-based biosensors generally. (LLM, conf=0.85)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Cites
Physics of Semiconductor Devices
Colinge, J. P., & Colinge, C. (2002) · Kluwer Academic Publishers eBooks · doi:10.1007/b117561 · Cited by 13,993 · see citing works
Nanowire Nanosensors for Highly Sensitive and Selective Detection of Biological and Chemical Species
Cui, Y., Wei, Q., Park, H., & Lieber, C. M. (2001) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1062711 · Cited by 5,799 · see citing works
Self-citationPhysics of Semiconductor Devices
Jain, S., & Radhakrishna, S. (1987) · doi:10.1142/9789814542012 · Cited by 4,187 · see citing works
The use of nanocrystals in biological detection
Alivisatos, A. P. (2003) · Nature Biotechnology · doi:10.1038/nbt927 · Cited by 3,006 · see citing works
Multiplexed electrical detection of cancer markers with nanowire sensor arrays
Zheng, G., Patolsky, F., Cui, Y., Wang, W. U., & Lieber, C. M. (2005) · Nature Biotechnology · doi:10.1038/nbt1138 · Cited by 2,430 · see citing works
Self-citationNanoparticle-Based Bio-Bar Codes for the Ultrasensitive Detection of Proteins
Nam, J., Thaxton, C. S., & Mirkin, C. A. (2003) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1088755 · Cited by 2,391 · see citing works
Fluorescence Spectroscopy of Single Biomolecules
Weiss, S. (1999) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.283.5408.1676 · Cited by 2,050 · see citing works
Nanoparticle-Based Bio-Barcodes for the Ultrasensitive Detection of Proteins*
Nam, J., Thaxton, C. S., & Mirkin, C. A. (2020) · Spherical Nucleic Acids · doi:10.1201/9781003056713-94 · Cited by 2,038 · see citing works
Noncovalent functionalization of carbon nanotubes for highly specific electronic biosensors
Chen, R. J., Bangsaruntip, S., Drouvalakis, K. A., Kam, N. W. S., Shim, M., Li, Y., Kim, W., Utz, P. J., & Dai, H. (2003) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.0837064100 · Cited by 1,442 · see citing works
Label-free immunodetection with CMOS-compatible semiconducting nanowires
Stern, E., Klemic, J. F., Routenberg, D. A., Wyrembak, P. N., Turner-Evans, D. B., Hamilton, A. D., LaVan, D. A., Fahmy, T. M., & Reed, M. A. (2007) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature05498 · Cited by 1,352 · see citing works
Hahm, J., & Lieber, C. M. (2003) · Nano Letters · doi:10.1021/nl034853b · Cited by 1,304 · see citing works
Self-citationEnzyme-coated carbon nanotubes as single-molecule biosensors
Besteman, K., Lee, J.-O., Wiertz, F. G. M., Heering, H. A., & Dekker, C. (2003) · Nano Letters · doi:10.1021/nl034139u · Cited by 1,294 · see citing works
Electrical detection of single viruses
Patolsky, F., Zheng, G., Hayden, O., Lakadamyali, M., Zhuang, X., & Lieber, C. M. (2004) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.0406159101 · Cited by 1,256 · see citing works
Self-citationProbing the free-energy surface for protein folding with single-molecule fluorescence spectroscopy
Schuler, B., Lipman, E. A., & Eaton, W. A. (2002) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature01060 · Cited by 921 · see citing works
Importance of the Debye Screening Length on Nanowire Field Effect Transistor Sensors
Stern, E., Wagner, R., Sigworth, F. J., Breaker, R., Fahmy, T. M., & Reed, M. A. (2007) · Nano Letters · doi:10.1021/nl071792z · Cited by 806 · see citing works
A Single-Molecule Study of RNA Catalysis and Folding
Zhuang, X., Bartley, L., Babcock, H. P., Russell, R., Ha, T., Herschlag, D., & Chu, S. (2000) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.288.5473.2048 · Cited by 732 · see citing works
Patolsky, F., Zheng, G., & Lieber, C. M. (2006) · Analytical Chemistry · doi:10.1021/ac069419j · Cited by 711 · see citing works
Self-citationSequence-Specific Label-Free DNA Sensors Based on Silicon Nanowires
Li, Z., Chen, Y. Y., Li, X., Kamins, T. I., Nauka, K., & Williams, R. S. (2004) · Nano Letters · doi:10.1021/nl034958e · Cited by 707 · see citing works
High Performance Electrolyte Gated Carbon Nanotube Transistors
Rosenblatt, S., Yaish, Y., Park, J., et al. (2002) · Nano Letters · doi:10.1021/nl025639a · Cited by 569 · see citing works
Identifying the Mechanism of Biosensing with Carbon Nanotube Transistors
Heller, I., Janssens, A. M., Männik, J., et al. (2007) · Nano Letters · doi:10.1021/nl072996i · Cited by 491 · see citing works
Complementary Detection of Prostate-Specific Antigen Using In2O3 Nanowires and Carbon Nanotubes
Li, C., Curreli, M., Lin, H., Lei, B., Ishikawa, F. N., Datar, R. H., Côté, R. J., Thompson, M. E., & Zhou, C. (2005) · Journal of the American Chemical Society · doi:10.1021/ja053761g · Cited by 379 · see citing works
CRC Standard Mathematical Tables and Formulae
(2002) · Chapman & Hall/CRC eBooks · doi:10.1201/9781420035346 · Cited by 328 · see citing works
Design Considerations of Silicon Nanowire Biosensors
Nair, P. R., & Alam, M. A. (2007) · IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices · doi:10.1109/ted.2007.909059 · Cited by 316 · see citing works
van Hal, R. E. G., Eijkel, J. C. T., & Bergveld, P. (1995) · Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical · doi:10.1016/0925-4005(95)85043-0 · Cited by 311 · see citing works
Prostate-specific antigen: biochemistry, analytical methods, and clinical application
Armbruster, D. (1993) · Clinical Chemistry · doi:10.1093/clinchem/39.2.181 · Cited by 287 · see citing works
Screening-Limited Response of NanoBiosensors
Nair, P. R., & Alam, M. A. (2008) · Nano Letters · doi:10.1021/nl072593i · Cited by 228 · see citing works
Prostate specific antigen: biology, biochemistry and available commercial assays
Ward, A. M., Catto, J. W. F., & Hamdy, F. C. (2001) · Annals of Clinical Biochemistry International Journal of Laboratory Medicine · doi:10.1258/0004563011901055 · Cited by 137 · see citing works
Mechanism and Optimization of pH Sensing Using SnO2 Nanobelt Field Effect Transistors
Cheng, Y., Xiong, P., Yun, C. S., et al. (2008) · Nano Letters · doi:10.1021/nl801696b · Cited by 121 · see citing works
Historical review. Twenty years of ion-selective field-effect transistors
Janata, J. �. (1994) · The Analyst · doi:10.1039/an9941902275 · Cited by 92 · see citing works
Optimizing the Signal-to-Noise Ratio for Biosensing with Carbon Nanotube Transistors
Heller, I., Männik, J., Lemay, S. G., & Dekker, C. (2008) · Nano Letters · doi:10.1021/nl8031636 · Cited by 87 · see citing works
Covalent functionalization and biomolecular recognition properties of DNA-modified silicon nanowires
Streifer, J. A., Kim, H., Nichols, B. M., et al. (2005) · Nanotechnology · doi:10.1088/0957-4484/16/9/075 · Cited by 74 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Schwartz, G., Tee, B. C.-K., Mei, J., Appleton, A. L., Kim, D. H., Wang, H., & Bao, Z. (2013) · Nature Communications · doi:10.1038/ncomms2832 · Cited by 2,042 · see citing works
Hwang, S.-W., Lee, C. H., Cheng, H., Jeong, J.-W., Kang, S.-K., Kim, J.-H., Shin, J., Yang, J., Liu, Z., Ameer, G. A., et al. (2015) · Nano Letters · doi:10.1021/nl503997m · Cited by 344 · see citing works
On the origin of enhanced sensitivity in nanoscale FET-based biosensors
Shoorideh, K., & Chui, C. O. (2014) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1315485111 · Cited by 162 · see citing works
Effect of Nanowire Number, Diameter, and Doping Density on Nano-FET Biosensor Sensitivity
Li, J., Zhang, Y., To, S., You, L., & Sun, Y. (2011) · ACS Nano · doi:10.1021/nn202182p · Cited by 138 · see citing works
Choi, K., Kim, J.-Y., Ahn, J.-H., Choi, J.-M., Im, M., & Choi, Y.-K. (2012) · Lab on a Chip · doi:10.1039/c2lc21203j · Cited by 77 · see citing works
Dielectric modulated junctionless biotube FET (DM-JL-BT-FET) Bio-Sensor
Goel, A., Rewari, S., Verma, S., Deswal, S. S., & Gupta, R. S. (2021) · IEEE Sensors Journal · doi:10.1109/jsen.2021.3077540 · Cited by 69 · see citing works
Optimization of the Sensitivity of FET-Based Biosensors via Biasing and Surface Charge Engineering
Shoorideh, K., & Chui, C. O. (2012) · IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices · doi:10.1109/ted.2012.2214221 · Cited by 65 · see citing works
Klinghammer, S., Voitsekhivska, T., Licciardello, N., Kim, K., Baek, C.-K., Cho, H., Wolter, K.-J., Kirschbaum, C., Baraban, L., & Cuniberti, G. (2020) · ACS Sensors · doi:10.1021/acssensors.0c02267 · Cited by 62 · see citing works
- Authors
- Gao, X. P. A., Zheng, G., & Lieber, C. M.
- Affiliations
- Case Western Reserve University (US)
- Fudan University (CN)
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology
- Corresponding author
- Gao, Xuan P. A.
- Zheng, Gengfeng
- Venue
- Nano Letters
- Publisher
- American Chemical Society (ACS)
- Published
- 2009-11-12
- Volume
- 10
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 547-552
- ISSN
- 1530-6984 (ISSN-L)
- 1530-6992
- PMC
- PMC2820132
- OpenAlex
- W2004610448
- Cited by
- 571
- References
- 31
- Citations by year
- 2026: 10 · 2025: 23 · 2024: 34 · 2023: 32 · 2022: 26 · 2021: 27 · 2020: 37 · 2019: 33 · 2018: 29 · 2017: 37 · 2016: 52 · 2015: 39 · 2014: 47 · 2013: 47 · 2012: 36
- FWCI
- 19.66
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Nano Letters (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health (DP1OD003900)
- National Cancer Institute (R21CA133519)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Biomedical Engineering › Nanowire Synthesis and Applications
- Physical Sciences › Chemical Engineering › Bioengineering › Analytical Chemistry and Sensors
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Electrical and Electronic Engineering › Electrochemical sensors and biosensors
- Keywords
- nanowire field-effect transistors, biosensors, subthreshold operation, sensor sensitivity, electrolyte gating, pH sensing, protein sensing, carrier screening, detection limit, surface-bound molecules
- MeSH terms
- Humans, Hydrogen-Ion Concentration, Male, Prostatic Neoplasms, Proteins, Silicon, Temperature, Thermodynamics, Biosensing Techniques, Poisson Distribution, Prostate-Specific Antigen, Nanotechnology, Nanostructures, Nanoparticles, Nanowires
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
