US Patent 8026560 - Molecular mass detector using nanowire transistor

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/8026560.html


This patent from IBM teaches a variation of the structure for a field effect transistor in which a resonating nanowire is used as the transistor channel and is used to measure the mass of molecular structures. Claim 1 reads:

1. A molecular detection device comprising:

a source;

a drain;

a nanowire comprising a semiconductor material having a first end clamped to the source and a second end clamped to the drain, wherein at least a portion of a surface of the nanowire is charge-sensitized by the introduction of compounds to the surface; and

a gate, at least a portion of which is separated from one or more of the source and the drain by a dielectric substrate.