Date of Award

1-1-2010

Document Type

Campus Access Thesis

Department

Physics and Astronomy

Sub-Department

Physics

First Advisor

Thomas Crawford

Second Advisor

David Tedeschi

Abstract

While DNA array-based technologies hold great promise applications in biochemical field for the functionalization of gold surface, surprisingly little is known about the surface structures of bound probes and the impact of the surface on hybridization reactions. It is interesting to note that, in spite of the tremendous potential held by these new DNA technologies, little has been done in the way of physical characterization of the surface in the air. For example, the stability of the resistances of the immobilized gold devices has not been examined in great detail as a function of time, nor has the role of mercaptohexanol protective layer on the resistance been rigorously examined. In this work, the stability of DNA functionalized thin gold film was examined in relation to temperature, light as well as the presence of mercaptohexanol, DI Water, Ethanol and complimentary strand of DNA. Furthermore, we examined the stability in air and in liquid, also we describe the preparatory procedure for samples hexanethiol-capped DNA strands on silicon wafers, the automated system used for measurement and data analysis. A review of the available and relevant literature is presented as well as a discussion of conclusions regarding the observed behavior of the gold film resistivity in light of the available previous work and theoretical arguments.

Rights

© 2010, Tareif Alkhatib

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