Silicon Nanowire Field-effect-transistor-based Biosensor for Biomedical Applications

Abstract

The quantification and detection of biochemical species are of utmost importance for biomedical applications.Silicon nanowire field-effect transistors (SiNW-FETs) have recently attracted tremendous attention as a promising tool in biosensor design because of their ultrahigh sensitivity, selectivity, and label-free and real-time detection capabilities.Here, we review the device fabrication and biomedical applications of SiNW-FET sensors.CMOS-compatible approaches for SiNW fabrication are reported.The applications of SiNW-FETs in the fields of biomedical sciences are discussed.SiNW-FETs have been employed in the detections of, for example, pH, DNA, nucleic acid, proteins, and cancer biomarkers.The major limitations and future directions of SiNW-FET nanosensors are also discussed.In this paper, we clearly show the great potential of SiNW-FET devices as powerful new tools in biological and medical diagnostics.