Micropatterning oligonucleotides on single-crystal diamond surface by photolithography

DNA micropatterns have been for the first time fabricated on a single-crystal diamond surface in conjunction with the photolithography technique. A new chemical modification process for producing amine groups inside patterned regions and a passivation layer terminated with fluorine outside patterned regions is demonstrated. The resulting amine groups within patterned areas and fluorine termination outside patterned areas on the single-crystal diamond surface were characterized by spatially resolved X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Amine-terminated oligonucleotides were then linked to the amine-patterned regions using a crosslinker. It was revealed that hybridization on DNA-patterned diamond is specific and selective, with a low background outside the patterns and strong binding to complementary probe DNA immobilized inside the patterns but no binding to noncomplementary probe DNA similarly immobilized inside the patterns. These results suggest that DNA micropatterning on a single-crystal diamond may serve as an ideal platform for future biochips and biosensors.