Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) molecule is the building block which architects the genetic materials for development and functioning of most living organisms. The characteristics of the DNA molecule such as stability to the mechanical and thermal stress, universal presence in all tissue or cell and more informative with unique genetic code, makes it very useful for organisms species detection. Furthermore, recent discovery of the structural and functional properties of the DNA molecule extended its application for bio-imaging, bio-diagnostics and sensing for drug delivery. Thus a number of assays have been introduced for the detection of specific DNA target such as real-time polymerase chain reaction assay and molecular fluorophores labelled platforms, but those are suffering for high costing. Furthermore, traditional biological signal detection platform with two-dimensional (2D) patterns and 2D nature electrodes have the drawbacks of lower sensitivity. Microfabrication of 3D carbonaceous structures, carbon-microelectromechanical system (C-MEMS) based on the thermochemical decomposition of patterned organic photoresist at high temperatures in oxygen-free environment, draw recent attention for the detection of DNA. In comparison with fluorescence detection platform on 2D carbon micropatterns, 3D micro arrays not suffer from optical interferences obtained on oxidized silicon substrates. The architectural tools for 3D C-MEMS, such as lithography and pyrolysis facilitate to generate varied carbon structure with different crystallinity, size and shape. Furthermore, integration of certain nanomaterials such as grapheme, carbon nanotubes or nanofibers with C-MEMS can create high surface area for carbon microarray. Thus fabrication of the 3D carbon microarrays with higher surface area increases the loading capability of the biomolecule to improve the sensitivity and performance of the DNA detection platform.

Acknowledgement

This research is supported by University Malaya Flagship Grant project FL001A-14AET, MOSTI SF020-2014, and Transdisciplinary Research Grant Scheme (TRGS TR002A-2014) from Malaysian Ministry of Higher Education.