Simulation of electrically tunable semiconductor nanopores for ion current/single bio-molecule manipulation

We show that a semiconductor membrane made of two thin layers of opposite (n - and p -) doping can perform electrically tunable ion current rectification and filtering in a nanopore. Our model is based on the solution of the 3D Poisson equation for the electrostatic potential in a double-cone nanopore, combined with a transport model. It predicts that for appropriate biasing of the membrane-electrolyte system, transitions from ohmic behavior to sharp rectification with vanishing leakage current are achievable. Further more, ion current rectifying and filtering regimes of the nanopore correspond to different charge states in the p-n membrane which can be tuned with appropriate biasing of the n - and p -layers.