Novel Differential Surface Stress Sensor for Detection of Chemical and Biological Species

摘要

A miniature sensor consisting of two adjacent micromachined cantilevers (a sensing/reference pair) is developed for detection of chemical and biological species. A novel interferometric technique is utilized to measure the differential bending of sensing cantilever with respect to reference. Presence of species is detected by measuring the differential surface stress associated with adsorption/absorption of chemical species on sensing cantilever. Surface stress associated with formation of alkanethiol self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) on the sensing cantilever is measured to characterize the sensor performance.