The main focus of this work is the development of a solid‐state nanopore detector with
embedded tunnelling electrodes capable of label‐free detection and ultimately
sequencing of individual DNA molecules.
In such a device a pair of tunnelling electrodes is precisely aligned to the nanopore
opening. DNA molecules are electrophoretically driven through the nanopore and ‘read’
at the tunnelling junction.
In this thesis a technique based on electron beam induced deposition (EBID) is being
explored and developed for the precise fabrication of tunnelling electrodes that are
aligned to a nanopore.
Functional tunnelling nanopore devices were characterized by tunnelling spectroscopy
in different solvents and then used in proof‐of‐principle experiments demonstrating, for
the first time, simultaneous tunnelling and ionic current detection of DNA molecules in
a nanopore platform. This represents an important step towards the task of achieving
label‐free tunnelling nanopore technology for rapid DNA detection.