Recent Advances in Silicon Nanowire Biosensors: Synthesis Methods, Properties, and Applications.

Hadis Daraee,Pooria Namdari,Ali Eatemadi

doi:10.1186/s11671-016-1618-z

Abstract

The application of silicon nanowire (SiNW) biosensor as a subtle, label-free, and electrical tool has been extensively demonstrated by several researchers over the past few decades. Human ability to delicately fabricate and control its chemical configuration, morphology, and arrangement either separately or in combination with other materials as lead to the development of a nanomaterial with specific and efficient electronic and catalytic properties useful in the fields of biological sciences and renewable energy. This review illuminates on the various synthetic methods of SiNW, with its optical and electrical properties that make them one of the most applicable nanomaterials in the field of biomolecule sensing, photoelectrochemical conversion, and diseases diagnostics.

Highlights

IntroductionSilicon nanowire (SiNW) biosensors are typical field effect transistor (FET)-based devices, made up of three electrodes
Silicon nanowire (SiNW) biosensors are typical field effect transistor (FET)-based devices, made up of three electrodes. The mechanism of their sensing process is due to the variation in their charge density that leads to changes in the electric field at the external surface of the SiNW
The bottom–up method involves the synthesis of the SiNWs from a mass of silicon wafer with the reaction been metal catalyzed, while top–down technique begins from a bulk silicon wafer and trims down to the preferred and required size and shape of SiNWs through a lithographic mechanism

Summary

Introduction

Silicon nanowire (SiNW) biosensors are typical field effect transistor (FET)-based devices, made up of three electrodes. The mechanism of their sensing process is due to the variation in their charge density that leads to changes in the electric field at the external surface of the SiNW. The bottom–up method involves the synthesis of the SiNWs from a mass of silicon wafer with the reaction been metal catalyzed, while top–down technique begins from a bulk silicon wafer and trims down to the preferred and required size and shape of SiNWs through a lithographic mechanism. In VLS, there is a deposition of metal-catalyzed (Au, Fe, Pt, Al, etc.) on the silicon wafer and the SiNWs growth is augmented either by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) technique [3, 4] (Fig. 1). It should be noted that this method is more preferable to VLS as it enables to produce SiNWs with various morphologies in chains, rods, wires, ribbons, and coaxial

Methods

Conclusions