Controlled breakdown has recently emerged as a highly appealing technique to fabricate solid-state nanopores for a wide range of biosensing applications. This technique relies on applying an electric field of approximately 0.4–1 V nm⁻¹ across the membrane to induce a current, and eventually, breakdown of the dielectric. Although previous studies have performed controlled breakdown under a range of different conditions, the mechanism of conduction and breakdown has not been fully explored. Here, electrical conduction and nanopore formation in SiN_x membranes during controlled breakdown is studied. It is demonstrated that for Si-rich SiN_x, oxidation reactions that occur at the membrane-electrolyte interface limit conduction across the dielectric. However, for stoichiometric Si₃N₄ the effect of oxidation reactions becomes relatively small and conduction is predominately limited by charge transport across the dielectric. Several important implications resulting from understanding this process are provided which will aid in further developing controlled breakdown in the coming years, particularly for extending this technique to integrate nanopores with on-chip nanostructures.

中文翻译：

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了解受控击穿过程中的导电和纳米孔形成

受控击穿最近已成为一种非常有吸引力的技术，用于制造用于各种生物传感应用的固态纳米孔。^{该技术依赖于在膜上施加大约 0.4-1 V nm -1}的电场来感应电流，并最终击穿电介质。尽管以前的研究已经在一系列不同的条件下进行了受控击穿，但尚未充分探索传导和击穿的机制。_{在这里，研究了受控击穿期间 SiN x}膜中的导电和纳米孔形成。证明了对于富硅的 SiN _x，发生在膜-电解质界面的氧化反应限制了电介质的传导。然而，对于化学计量的Si ₃ N ₄，氧化反应的影响变得相对较小，并且传导主要受到跨电介质的电荷传输的限制。提供了理解这一过程所产生的几个重要意义，这将有助于在未来几年进一步开发受控击穿，特别是对于扩展该技术以将纳米孔与芯片上纳米结构集成。