Title : 
Electrical and Mechanical Characteristics of DNA Bundles Revealed by Silicon Nanotweezers
         
        
            Author : 
Yamahata, Christophe ; Takekawa, Tetsuya ; Kumemura, Momoko ; Hosogi, Maho ; Hashiguchi, Gen ; Collard, Dominique ; Fujita, Hiroyuki
         
        
            Author_Institution : 
Univ. of Tokyo, Tokyo
         
        
        
        
        
        
            Abstract : 
This paper deals with the first simultaneous electrical and mechanical characterization of DNA bundles by a MEMS tool. The silicon-based device has an integrated actuator and a differential capacitive position sensor. Our experiments show that under constant humidity conditions, a rope of DNA has a nearly Ohmic conductivity and behaves as a viscoelastic material.
         
        
            Keywords : 
DNA; biological techniques; capacitive sensors; micromechanical devices; micropositioning; nanotechnology; position measurement; viscoelasticity; DNA bundles; MEMS tool; differential capacitive position sensor; electrical characteristic; integrated actuator; mechanical characteristic; ohmic conductivity; silicon nanotweezers; viscoelastic material; Actuators; Capacitive sensors; Conductivity; DNA; Humidity; Mechanical sensors; Micromechanical devices; Sensor phenomena and characterization; Silicon; Viscosity; DNA tweezers; Dielectrophoresis; Differential capacitive sensor; Molecular conduction; ¿-DNA;
         
        
        
        
            Conference_Titel : 
Solid-State Sensors, Actuators and Microsystems Conference, 2007. TRANSDUCERS 2007. International
         
        
            Conference_Location : 
Lyon
         
        
            Print_ISBN : 
1-4244-0842-3
         
        
            Electronic_ISBN : 
1-4244-0842-3
         
        
        
            DOI : 
10.1109/SENSOR.2007.4300151