Label-Free and Rapid Electrical Detection of hTSH with CMOS-Compatible Silicon Nanowire Transistor Arrays

Now a human thyroid stimulating hormone (hTSH) assay has been considered as a screening tool for thyroid disease. However, some existing methods employed for in-hospital diagnosis still suffer from labor-intensive experimental steps, and expensive instrumentation. It is of great significance to meet the ever growing demand for development of label-free, disposable, and low-cost productive hTSH detection biosensors. Herein, we demonstrate a novel sensing strategy for highly sensitive and selective immunodetection of hTSH by using a CMOS-compatible silicon nanowire field effect transistor (SiNW-FET) device. The SiNW chips were manufactured by a top-down approach, allowing for the possibility of low-cost and large-scale production. By using the antibody-functionalized SiNW-FET nanosensors, we performed the label-free and rapid electrical detection of hTSH without any nanoparticle conjugation or signal amplifications. The proposed SiNW biosensor could detect hTSH binding down to a concentration of at least 0....