Abstract
Solid-state nanopores are considered a promising tool for the study of biological polymerssuch as DNA and RNA, due largely to their flexibility in size, potential in deviceintegration and robustness. Here, we show that the precise shape of small nanopores (∼5 nm diameter in 20 nm SiN membranes) can be controlled by using transmission electronmicroscope (TEM) beams of different sizes. However, when some of these small nanoporesare immersed in an aqueous solution, their resistance is observed to decrease over time. Bycomparing nanopores of different shapes using (scanning) TEM both before and afterimmersion in aqueous solution, we demonstrate that the stability of small nanopores isrelated to their three-dimensional geometry, which depends on the TEM beam sizeemployed during pore fabrication. Optimal stability is obtained using a TEM beam size ofapproximately the same size as the intended nanopore diameter. In addition, we show thatthermal oxidation can serve as a means to independently control nanopore size followingTEM fabrication. These observations provide key guidelines for the fabricationof stable solid-state nanopores on the scale of nucleic acids and small proteins.
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