Nanometric Device for the Measurement of the Conductivity and Quantum Effects of Individual Molecules and Methods for the Manufacture and Use Thereof

8) A method for the production of a nanometric device for the measurement of the electrical conductivity of individual molecules and their quantum effects comprising the steps of:

• a) providing a wafer, preferably of Si;
• b) forming a barrier layer, preferably a TiN/Ti/TiN or Cr alloy on said wafer;
• c) forming a layer of an electrically conductive material, preferably Au, on top of said barrier layer;
• d) forming a “bounder” layer, preferably of Cr or Ti, on top of said electrically conductive layer;
• e) forming an electrically insulating layer, preferably of SiO2, on top of said “bounder” layer, the thickness of said electrically insulating layer being a function of the length of a molecule of interest to be measured;
• f) forming a diblock copolymer layer on top of said electrically insulating layer;
• g) carrying out a thermal process suitable to enable said diblock copolymer to auto-assembly and form cylindrical regions, constituted by one of the two polymers of said diblock copolymer, embedded in a matrix constituted by the other of the two polymers;
• h) selectively removing one of said two polymers, so as to form an etch mask in which a plurality of ordered trenches are obtained;
• i) performing an etching of said electrically insulating layer, and said “bounder” layer through said trenches, thus forming corresponding pores through said insulating and “bounder” layers;
• j) removing said polymer etch mask.

16) Method for the measurement of the electrical conductivity and quantum effects of a molecule of interest comprising the steps of:

• a) providing said molecule of interest;
• b) labeling said molecule of interest on one end thereof with an electrically conductive nanoparticle having a diameter larger than that of a respective nanometric pore of a nanometric device for the measurement of the electrical conductivity of individual molecules and their quantum effects consisting of a substrate surmounted by, in order, a barrier to diffusion layer, an electrically conductive layer, a “bounder” layer and an electrically insulating layer;
• and a suitable miniaturized probe;
• wherein said “bounder” layer and said electrically insulating layer have at least one nanometric pore formed within, the base of which consists of said electrically conductive layer;
• c) functionalizing said molecule of interest on an opposite end thereof in such a way that said end is anchorable to the electrically conductive base of said nanometric pore;
• d) inserting said functionalized end of said molecule of interest in said pore thus causing said molecule to bind to said conductive base and to remain in an extended configuration by virtue of its association with the electrically conductive nanoparticle;
• e) activating a probe, preferably an atomic force microscope (AFM) probe or a nanometric probe assembled in said device for the detection of the electric conductivity of said functionalized molecule.