Optical Monitoring of the Production Quality of Si-Nanoribbon Chips Intended for the Detection of ASD-Associated Oligonucleotides

• Main Authors: Kristina A. Malsagova, Tatyana O. Pleshakova, Vladimir P. Popov, Igor N. Kupriyanov, Rafael A. Galiullin, Andrey F. Kozlov, Ivan D. Shumov, Anna L. Kaysheva, Fedor V. Tikhonenko, Alexander I. Archakov, Yuri D. Ivanov
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2021-02-01
• Series: Micromachines
• Subjects: autism spectrum disorders; microRNA; silicon nanoribbon; sensor chip; DNA oligonucleotides; Raman spectroscopy
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-666X/12/2/147

Gas-phase etching and optical lithography were employed for the fabrication of a silicon nanoribbon chip (Si-NR chip). The quality of the so-fabricated silicon nanoribbons (Si-NRs) was monitored by optical Raman scattering spectroscopy. It was demonstrated that the structures of the Si-NRs were virtually defect-free, meaning they could be used for highly sensitive detection of biological macromolecules. The Si-NR chips were then used for the highly sensitive nanoelectronics detection of DNA oligonucleotides (oDNAs), which represent synthetic analogs of 106a-5p microRNA (miR-106a-5p), associated with the development of autism spectrum disorders in children. The specificity of the analysis was attained by the sensitization of the Si-NR chip sur-face by covalent immobilization of oDNA probes, whose nucleotide sequence was complementary to the known sequence of miR-106a-5p. The use of the Si-NR chip was demonstrated to al-low for the rapid label-free real-time detection of oDNA at ultra-low (~10⁻¹⁷ M) concentrations.