Electrical enhancement of bilayer formation

A system for forming a plurality of lipid bilayers over an array of cells in a nanopore based sequencing chip, the system comprising:

• a nanopore based sequencing chip comprising an array of cells, each of the cells comprising a well;
• a flow chamber coupled to the nanopore based sequencing chip;
• a processor or a circuitry configured to:
• flow a salt buffer solution over the array of cells in the nanopore based sequencing chip to substantially fill the wells in the cells with the salt buffer solution;
• flow a lipid and solvent mixture over the array of cells to deposit the lipid and solvent mixture over at least some of the wells in the cells;
• detect that a first portion of the cells has a lipid bilayer over each well and detect that a second portion of the cells has a lipid membrane greater than three lipid molecules thick over each well, wherein said detection comprises applying an electrical measurement stimulus to the cell and measuring a resultant change in voltage;
• and
• selectively apply an electrical lipid-thinning stimulus to the second portion of the cells but not the first portion of cells.

A system for forming a plurality of thin membranes over an array of cells in a nanopore based sequencing chip, the system comprising:

• a nanopore based sequencing chip comprising an array of cells, each of the cells comprising a well;
• a flow chamber coupled to the nanopore based sequencing chip;
• a processor or a circuitry configured to:
• flow a salt buffer solution over the array of cells in the nanopore based sequencing chip to substantially fill the wells in the cells with the salt buffer solution;
• flow a lipid and solvent mixture over the array of cells to deposit the lipid and solvent mixture over at least some of the wells in the cells;
• detect that a first portion of the cells has a thin membrane over each well and detect that a second portion of the cells has a thick membrane over each well, wherein the thin membrane is adapted to receive a nanopore and the thick membrane is not adapted to receive a nanopore, wherein said detection comprises applying an electrical measurement stimulus to the cell and measuring a resultant change in voltage;
• and
• selectively apply an electrical membrane thinning stimulus to the second portion of the cells but not the first portion of cells.