Fabrication of Perforated Conical Nanopores in Freestanding Polymer Membranes Using Nanoimprint Lithography and Pressed Self-Perfection Method

Nanopores have proven to be an important sensing element in biosensors to detect and analyze single biomolecules such as DNAs, RNAs, or proteins. The charged biomolecules are driven by an electric field and detected as transient current blocks associated with their translocation through the pores. While protein nanopores, such as alpha-hemolysin and MspA protein nanopores embedded within a lipid bilayer membrane [1], promise to be a rapid, sensitive and label-free sensing paradigm, their duration of usage is too short to perform repetitive experiments due to the mechanical instability of the lipid bilayer. A variety of methods have been developed to prepare synthetic nanopores, which can substrate for protein nanopores, including a direct milling with a focused high-energy electron or ion beam in insulating substrates, an ion track etching in polymer substrates, and an anodizing in aluminum substrates. However, those methods do not allow for control over both the size and location of pores and the high yield of production.