Modeling and performance of uncoated microcantilever-based chemical sensors

Tétin, Sébastien; Caillard, Benjamin; Ménil, Francis; Debéda, Hélène; Lucat, Claude; Pellet, Claude; Dufour, Isabelle

doi:10.1016/j.snb.2009.09.062

Cited by 35 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 12 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The sensitivity to mass density can be approximated by [10] (4) From Eq. (4) one may conclude that the relative frequency shift due to the mass density variation of the gas increases with the ratio of the microcantilever width to the microcantilever thickness.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Unconventional uses of microcantilevers as chemical sensors in gas and liquid media

Dufour

Josse

Heinrich

et al. 2012

Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract:The use of microcantilevers as (bio)chemical sensors usually involves the application of a chemically sensitive layer. The coated device operates either in a static bending regime or in a dynamic flexural mode. While some of these coated devices may be operated successfully in both the static and the dynamic modes, others may suffer from certain shortcomings depending on the type of coating, the medium of operation and the sensing application. Such shortcomings include lack of selectivity and reversibility of the sensitive coating and a reduced quality factor due to the surrounding medium. In particular, the performance of microcantilevers excited in their standard outof-plane dynamic mode drastically decreases in viscous liquid media. Moreover, the responses of coated cantilevers operating in the static bending mode are often difficult to interpret. To resolve these performance issues, the following emerging unconventional uses of microcantilevers are reviewed in this paper: (1) dynamic-mode operation without using a sensitive coating, (2) the use of in-plane vibration modes (both flexural and longitudinal) in liquid media, and (3) incorporation of viscoelastic effects in the coatings in the static mode of operation. The advantages and drawbacks of these atypical uses of microcantilevers for chemical sensing in gas and liquid environments are discussed.

show abstract

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Unconventional uses of microcantilevers as chemical sensors in gas and liquid media

Dufour

Josse

Heinrich

et al. 2012

Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The Euler-Bernoulli equation taking into account the hydrodynamic force acting on the uncoated microcantilever is commonly used to model the behavior of resonating microcantilevers in fluid media when the influence of the beam's shearing deformation and rotational inertia can be neglected [8] and [12]. Fig.…”

Section: Modelingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For chemical and biochemical sensing applications, the microcantilevers are usually coated with a sensitive layer whose purpose is to selectively sorb the analyte of interest, resulting in either a static deflection (bilayer effect) in the static mode or a shift in the resonant frequency (mass effect) in the dynamic flexural mode. Furthermore, it has been demonstrated that uncoated micro-or millimeter size cantilevers operated in the dynamic flexural mode exhibit good sensitivities to gas mass density [7,8], liquid mass density [9] and/or viscosity [10,11].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…With a view towards chemical detection in gas media, the variation of the gas density can reflect the variation of a chemical species concentration in a gas mixture [8,[12][13][14]. The operating principle of an uncoated silicon microcantilever (USMC) used as a density or chemical sensor is based on the influence of the mass of the fluid moved by the vibrating cantilever on the resonant frequency.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Geometry optimization of uncoated silicon microcantilever-based gas density sensors

Boudjiet

Bertrand

Mathieu

et al. 2015

Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract:In the absence of coating, the only way to improve the sensitivity of silicon microcantilever-based density sensors is to optimize the device geometry. Based on this idea, several microcantilevers with different shapes (rectangular-, U-and T-shaped microstructures) and dimensions have been fabricated and tested in the presence of hydrogen/ nitrogen mixtures (H2/N2) of various concentrations ranging from 0.2% to 2%. In fact, it is demonstrated that wide and short rectangular cantilevers are more sensitive to gas density changes than U-and T-shaped devices of the same overall dimensions, and that the thickness doesn't affect the sensitivity despite the fact that it affects the resonant frequency. Moreover, because of the phase linearization method used for the natural frequency estimation, detection of a gas mass density change of 2 mg/l has been achieved with all three microstructures. In addition, noise measurements have been used to estimate a limit of detection of 0.11 mg/l for the gas mass density variation (corresponding to a concentration of 100 ppm of H2 in N2), which is much smaller than the current state of the art for uncoated mechanical resonators.

show abstract

“…[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11] Masses in the range of picograms and femtograms have been detected using these devices, with projected detection limits on the order of attograms. [11][12][13] While dynamically driven microcantilever chemical sensors are well suited for gas-phase detection, [1][2][3][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21] their usefulness as a sensing platform is limited when operating in viscous liquid media. 7,[22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29] Due to the additional fluid resistance (combined effects of fluidrelated inertial and viscous forces), the beam's resonant frequency, f res , and quality factor, Q, will drastically decrease when the operating medium is changed from air to liquid; 22,28,[30][31][32] these decreases are due to the increases in the f...…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characteristics of laterally vibrating resonant microcantilevers in viscous liquid media

Cox

Josse

Heinrich

et al. 2012

Journal of Applied Physics

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The characteristics of microcantilevers vibrating laterally in viscous liquid media are investigated and compared to those of similar microcantilevers vibrating in the out-of-plane direction. The hydrodynamic loading on the vibrating beam is first determined using a numerical model. A semi-analytical expression for the hydrodynamic forces in terms of the Reynolds number and the aspect ratio (beam thickness over beam width) is obtained by introducing a correction factor to Stokes' solution for a vibrating plate of infinite area to account for the effects of the thickness. The results enable the effects of fluid damping and effective fluid mass on the resonant frequency and the quality factor (Q) to be investigated as a function of both the beam's geometry and liquid medium's properties and compared to experimentally determined values given in the literature. The resonant frequency and Q are found to be higher for laterally vibrating microcantilevers compared to those of similar geometry experiencing transverse (out-of-plane) vibration. Compared to transversely vibrating beams, the resonant frequency of laterally vibrating beams is shown to decrease at a slower rate (with respect to changes in viscosity) in media having higher viscosities than water. The theoretical results are compared to experimental data obtained for cantilevers completely immersed in solutions of varying aqueous percent glycerol. The increases in resonant frequency and Q are expected to yield much lower limits of detection in liquid-phase chemical sensing applications.

show abstract

Modeling and performance of uncoated microcantilever-based chemical sensors

Cited by 35 publications

References 12 publications

Unconventional uses of microcantilevers as chemical sensors in gas and liquid media

Unconventional uses of microcantilevers as chemical sensors in gas and liquid media

Geometry optimization of uncoated silicon microcantilever-based gas density sensors

Characteristics of laterally vibrating resonant microcantilevers in viscous liquid media

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About