Femtomolar Dengue Virus Type-2 DNA Detection in Back-gated Silicon Nanowire Field-effect Transistor Biosensor

Background: Dengue is known as the most severe arboviral infection in the world spread by Aedes aegypti. However, conventional and laboratory-based enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) are the current approaches in detecting dengue virus (DENV), requiring skilled and well-trained personnel to operate. Therefore, the ultrasensitive and label-free technique of the Silicon Nanowire (SiNW) biosensor was chosen for rapid detection of DENV. Methods: In this study, a SiNW field-effect transistor (FET) biosensor integrated with a back-gate of the low-doped p-type Silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafer was fabricated through conventional photolithography and Inductively Coupled Plasma – Reactive Ion Etching (ICP-RIE) for Dengue Virus type-2 (DENV-2) DNA detection. The morphological characteristics of back-gated SiNW-FET were examined using a field-emission scanning electron microscope supported by the elemental analysis via energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. Results and Discussion: A complementary (target) single-stranded deoxyribonucleic acid (ssDNA) was recognized when the target DNA was hybridized with the probe DNA attached to SiNW surfaces. Based on the slope of the linear regression curve, the back-gated SiNW-FET biosensor demonstrated the sensitivity of 3.3 nAM-1 with a detection limit of 10 fM. Furthermore, the drain and back-gate voltages were also found to influence the SiNW conductance changed. Conclusion: Thus, the results obtained suggest that the back-gated SiNW-FET shows good stability in both biosensing applications and medical diagnosis throughout the conventional photolithography method.