imec achieves wafer-scale fabrication of solid-state nanopores using EUV

09 Dec 2025

Enables scalable precision biosensing applications in life sciences and healthcare.

imec creates nanopores with diameters down to 10 nm on 300 mm wafers.

At this year’s IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM 2025, in San Francisco), imec, a research and innovation hub in semiconductor technologies, is presenting what it describes as “the first successful wafer-scale fabrication of solid-state nanopores using EUV lithography.”

imec noted, “Solid-state nanopores are emerging as powerful tools for molecular sensing but have not yet been commercialized. This proof of concept is a crucial step towards their cost-effective mass-production.”

Nanopores are nanometer-scale holes etched into silicon nitride membranes. When immersed in fluid and connected to electrodes, they allow individual molecules to pass through, generating electrical signals that can be analyzed in real time. Because the pore size can be easily adjusted, they offer a wide range of applications, from virus identification to DNA and protein analysis.

This label-free, single-molecule detection method is key to next-generation diagnostics, proteomics, genomics, and even molecular data storage applications.

Beating bio-instability

Biological nanopores, in contrast, formed by proteins in lipid membranes, have enabled commercial sequencing platforms, but they are limited by stability and integration challenges. Solid-state nanopores overcome these limitations with robustness, tunability, and compatibility with semiconductor manufacturing, making them ideal for scalable, high-throughput sensing.

Cross-sectional top view of a solid state nanopore.

However, achieving nanometer-level precision and uniformity in solid-state pores across large areas remains a challenge. Current fabrication techniques are often slow and limited to the lab, delaying their widespread use for sensing applications.

In a new paper presented at IEDM 2025, imec reports on the successful fabrication of highly uniform nanopores with diameters down to ~10 nm across full 300 mm wafers. The team combined EUV lithography with a spacer-based etch technique to achieve nanometer-level precision and reproducibility.

The nanopores were embedded in silicon nitride membranes and electrically characterized in aqueous environments. Translocation experiments with DNA fragments also confirmed high signal-to-noise ratios and excellent wetting behavior, validating the nanopores’ sensing performance with biological material.

Ashesh Ray Chaudhuri, first author and R&D project manager at imec, comented, “imec is uniquely positioned to make this leap. We can apply EUV lithography – which is traditionally reserved for memory and logic – to life sciences. By leveraging our lithography infrastructure, we have shown that solid-state nanopores can be fabricated at scale with the precision needed for molecular sensing. This opens the door to high-throughput biosensor arrays for healthcare and beyond.”

Looking ahead, imec says that this capability can enable rapid diagnostics, personalized medicine, and molecular fingerprinting. imec is currently developing a modular readout system with scalable fluidics as a platform for application relevant chemistry development. The team is inviting life science tool developers to use this platform to test their concepts and requirements.

• At the forthcoming 2026 IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC, also in San Francisco), another imec paper “A 256-Channel Event-Driven Readout for Solid-State Nanopore Single-Molecule Sensing with 193 pArms Noise in a 1 MHz Bandwidth” will be presented, showcasing a proof-of-concept ASIC readout developed by imec, to support next-generation custom nanopores.