The ability to optically, electrically and magnetically detect the state of biological systems and species is continually being researched. Even though optical & magnetic procedures continue to grow and evolve, electrical detection methods, by-far, continue to remain most desirable. Nanowires (NW) have emerged as powerful platforms for creating robust, sensitive and selective sensors for biological detection. These NWs have been custom created & modified to be used for electrochemical biosensing, owing to their miniaturizing properties and effective recognition abilities. This paper specifically deals with the study of common and technologically relevant semiconductor materials, primarily Silicon (Si) & Zinc Oxide (ZnO), which have currently become the face of interdisciplinary bio-electrochemical research. The effect of thermal annealing as well as surface defect passivation on electrical transport properties for highly selective pathogen sensing has been discussed. Crystal optical and electronic characteristics of SiNW and ZnO based sensing channels have been observed to offer promising prospects in the discipline of Complimentary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) compatible Field-Effect Transistor (FET) biosensing. Operations such as drug discovery and pathogen detection by the means of semiconductor NW devices have been reviewed.
