Carbon Nanotube Field-Effect Transistor for DNA Sensing

A field-effect transistor (FET) using carbon nanotubes (CNTs) as the conducting channel (CNTFET) has been developed, designed such that the CNT conducting channel (15 μm long, 700 μm wide) is directly exposed to medium containing target deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). The CNTFET operates at high ON-current of 1.91 μA, ON/OFF-current ratio of 1.2 × 105, conductance of 4.3 μS, and leakage current of 16.4 pA. We present initial trials showing the response of the CNTFET to injection of target DNA into aqueous medium.