Figure 1. Schematic of the fabrication setup.

A computer-controlled custom current amplifier is used to apply voltages up to ±20 V and measure the current with sub-nA sensitivity from one of the two Ag/AgCl electrodes positioned on either sides of the membrane. It is noteworthy to realize that this experimental setup is identical (with the exception of the custom current amplifier replacing the commonly used Axopatch 200B) to the instrumentation used to study DNA or proteins translocation through nanopores.