Emerging trends in precision fabrication of microapertures to support suspended lipid membranes for sensors, sequencing, and beyond

Suspended lipid membranes, also called black lipid membranes (BLMs), are an important model system that approximates the lipid bilayer environment of cell membranes. Increasingly, BLMs are utilized in sensing strategies that harness high sensitivity measurements of ion flux across the membrane, typically facilitated by ion channel proteins. BLMs are suspended across microapertures that connect two otherwise isolated fluidic compartments, and the precision fabrication of such microapertures can contribute to the stability and performance of the resulting BLM. Here, we highlight two emerging trends in the precision fabrication of microapertures for BLM formation: microfabrication in silicon-based thin film substrates, and microfabrication in the negative photoresist material SU-8. Four unique fabrication strategies are outlined, and we project the impact that these microfabrication strategies will have for BLM-integrated bioanalytical technologies.