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The use of thin films as sensing elements for microsensor applications has been shown very attractive due to their low-cost fabrication, potential for integration with standard CMOS technologies and possibility of deposition on different substrate types. In particular, piezoresistive sensors based on thin films have been commonly developed because can be easily implemented using microfabrication processes and present the best relation between sensitivity and system complexity, which showing great advantages in term of device integration. In our previous works (Fraga et al. 2010(Fraga et al. , 2011a, we studied undoped and nitrogen-doped PECVD a-SiC thin films as alternative materials to replace the silicon piezoresistors in strain and pressure sensors for harsh environments. Here, we focused our attention on the piezoresistive properties of sputtered silicon carbide (SiC), diamond-like carbon (DLC) and titanium dioxide (TiO 2 ) thin films. These materials were evaluated in terms of sensitivity or gauge factor and of the influence of the temperature on this sensitivity, allowing a preliminary analysis of the applicability of these thin films in high temperature piezoresistive sensors.

Highly sensitive protein characterisation on a new label-free biosensor system is reported. The system consists of a VCSEL, a plastic guided mode resonant filter and two pin detectors. It is suitable for measuring both static and dynamic interaction among proteins and can detect an antigen concentration as low as 1 pg=ml (6.7 femtoMolar).