Significant Performance Improvement of MicroRNA-375 Detection by Modulation of Au Nanoparticle Distribution Using Silicon-on-Insulator MOSFET

Using silicon-on-insulator MOSFET as the platform for RNA detection, the impact of Au nanoparticle (AuNP) distribution on sensitivity is investigated in this work. For the first time it is revealed that the AuNP formed by 2 nm as-deposited Au film (AuNP (2nm)) enables the largest amount of effective immobilization probe DNA, which enhances the capture efficiency of target microRNA-375, thus improving the sensitivity by 55% and 100%, compared to AuNP (1 nm) and AuNP (3 nm) case, respectively. It provides a new way to improve the microRNA detection sensitivity for sensors in which Au is used as the linker based on FET platform.