Nanopore sensors have attracted considerable interest for high-throughput sensing of individual nucleic acids and proteins without the need for chemical labels or complex optics. A prevailing problem in nanopore applications is that the transport kinetics of single biomolecules are often faster than the measurement time resolution. Methods to slow down biomolecular transport can be troublesome and are at odds with the natural goal of high-throughput sensing. Here we introduce a low-noise measurement platform that integrates a complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) preamplifier with solid-state nanopores in thin silicon nitride membranes. With this platform we achieved a signal-to-noise ratio exceeding five at a bandwidth of 1 MHz, which to our knowledge is the highest bandwidth nanopore recording to date. We demonstrate transient signals as brief as 1 μs from short DNA molecules as well as current signatures during molecular passage events that shed light on submolecular DNA configurations in small nanopores.

In the last two decades, new techniques that monitor ionic current modulations as single molecules pass through a nanoscale pore have enabled numerous single-molecule studies. While biological nanopores have recently shown the ability to resolve single nucleotides within individual DNA molecules, similar developments with solid-state nanopores have lagged, due to challenges both in fabricating stable nanopores of similar dimensions as biological nanopores and in achieving sufficiently low-noise and high-bandwidth recordings. Here we show that small silicon nitride nanopores (0.8 to 2-nm-diameter in 5 to 8-nm-thick membranes) can resolve differences between ionic current signals produced by short (30 base) ssDNA homopolymers (poly(dA), poly(dC), poly(dT)), when combined with measurement electronics that allow a signal-to-noise ratio of better than 10 to be achieved at 1 MHz bandwidth. While identifying intramolecular DNA sequences with silicon nitride nanopores will require further improvements in nanopore sensitivity and noise levels, homopolymer differentiation represents an important milestone in the development of solid-state nanopores.

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.

We present a study of double- and single-stranded DNA transport through nanopores fabricated in ultrathin (2–7 nm thick) free-standing 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.

Despite the potential for nanopores to be a platform for high-bandwidth study of single-molecule systems, ionic current measurements through nanopores have been limited in their temporal resolution by noise arising from poorly optimized measurement electronics and large parasitic capacitances in the nanopore membranes. Here, we present a complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) nanopore (CNP) amplifier capable of low noise recordings at an unprecedented 10 MHz bandwidth. When integrated with state-of-the-art solid-state nanopores in silicon nitride membranes, we achieve an SNR of greater than 10 for ssDNA translocations at a measurement bandwidth of 5 MHz, which represents the fastest ion current recordings through nanopores reported to date. We observe transient features in ssDNA translocation events that are as short as 200 ns, which are hidden even at bandwidths as high as 1 MHz. These features offer further insights into the translocation kinetics of molecules entering and exiting the pore. This platform highlights the advantages of high-bandwidth translocation measurements made possible by integrating nanopores and custom-designed electronics.

Despite advances in monitoring spatiotemporal expression patterns of genes and proteins with fluorescent probes, direct detection of metabolites and small molecules remains challenging. A technique for spatially resolved detection of small molecules would benefit the study of redox-active metabolites produced by microbial biofilms, which can drastically affect colony development. Here we present an integrated circuit-based electrochemical sensing platform featuring an array of working electrodes and parallel potentiostat channels. “Images” over a 3.25 × 0.9 mm area can be captured with a diffusion-limited spatial resolution of 750 μm. We demonstrate that square wave voltammetry can be used to detect, identify, and quantify (for concentrations as low as 2.6 μM) four distinct redox-active metabolites called phenazines. We characterize phenazine production in both wild-type and mutant Pseudomonas aeruginosa PA14 colony biofilms, and find correlations with fluorescent reporter imaging of phenazine biosynthetic gene expression.

In this article, we introduce a flexible technique for high-throughput solid-state nanopore analysis of single biomolecules. By confining the electrolyte to a micron-scale liquid meniscus at the tip of a glass micropipette, we enable automation and reuse of a single solid-state membrane chip for measurements with hundreds of distinct nanopores per day. In addition to overcoming important experimental bottlenecks, the microscale liquid contact dramatically reduces device capacitance, which is a key limiting factor to the speed and fidelity of solid-state nanopore sensor recordings.

We present single-ion-channel recordings performed with biomimetic lipid membranes which are directly attached to the surface of a complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) preamplifier chip. With this system we resolve single-channel currents from several types of bacterial ion channels, including fluctuations of a single alamethicin channel at a bandwidth of 1 MHz which represent the fastest single-ion-channel recordings reported to date. The platform is also used for high-resolution alpha-hemolysin nanopore recordings. These results illustrate the high signal fidelity, fine temporal resolution, small geometry, and multiplexed integration which can be achieved by leveraging integrated semiconductor platforms for advanced ion channel interfaces.