ABSTRACT
Quasi-one-dimensional semiconducting nanowires are considered the best candidates among transducer elements for biosensing because of their appealing characteristics such as high sensitivity due to the quantum confinement and the large surface-to-volume ratio, high stability due to the crystal structure, and potential to be configured as field-effect transistors (FET). Label-free silicon nanowire (SiNW)-based biosensors configured as FETs can detect the target/receptor binding events that affect the local chemical potential on the surface of nanowires. This chapter presents a comprehensive simulation study on single SiNW-based FET biosensors for detecting biotin/streptavidin binding. It explains the biotin/streptavidin system as a model system, comprehensive modeling and simulation studies to reveal the underlying detection mechanism of biotin/streptavidin binding using the SiNW FET biosensor. The biotin/streptavidin system exhibits the strongest non-covalent biological interaction known and is widely demonstrated as a model system to study bio-recognition between proteins and other biomolecules.
