  Solid-state nanopores have received substantial attention in the past years
owing to their simplicity and potential applications expected in genomics,
sensing, archival information storage, and computing. The underlying sensing
technique of nanopore technology is the analysis of modulations in the ionic
current while molecules are electrophoretically driven through the nanopore.
This current blockade-based sensing is presently well recognized and
commercially used for applications such as DNA sequencing. However, this ionic
currentbased method has limitations and increased complexity for futuristic
applications such as single molecular protein sequencing, where diverse charges
and shape distributions are involved. A high throughput readout method that can
be used in extreme environments and has improved sensitivity to the mixed
charge profiles and shape of the analytes is required. In this work, we present
an exploratory finite element simulation study on the feasibility of using
electric-field modulations instead of ionic current blockades for nanopore
translocation measurements. This electric field sensing technique has further
advantages over ionic current blockade measurements. For instance, Electric
field sensing is capable of size and charge discretion with lesser noise and
does not mandate the presence of an electrolyte solution. This technique can be
used in extreme environments and developed for defense and space applications
such as detecting air-born particles and future mars, moon, and Europa
missions. We hope this work will be a starting point for developing electric
field sensing for nanopore applications and opening the field of nanopore
electrometry.
