Teflon™-coated silicon apertures for supported lipid bilayer membranes

Abstract

We present a method for microfabricating apertures in a silicon substrate using well-known cleanroom technologies resulting in highly reproducible giga-seal resistance bilayer formations. Using a plasma etcher, 150μm apertures have been etched through a silicon wafer. Teflon™ has been chemically vapor deposited so that the surface resembles bulk Teflon and is hydrophobic. After fabrication, reproducible high resistance bilayers were formed and characteristic measurements of a self-inserted single OmpF porin ion channel protein were made.