Scanning Helium Ion Microscope (HIM)-Milled Solid-State Nanopores: Fabrication and Application to Biomolecule Detection

The solid-state nanopore is a fast-growing nanofluidic platform for the detection of electrophoretically-driven single molecules. In this presentation, we report the formation of solid-state nanopores using a new method of scanning helium ion microscope (HIM) milling. The fabrication process offers high sample throughput along with fine control over nanopore dimensions, producing single pores with diameters below 4 nm. We will discuss the details and advantages of our fabrication process and demonstrate the utility of the resultant nanopores for biomolecular analysis.