We have measured the response of gold-coated silicon nitride microcantileve
rs to 2-mercaptoethanol (HS-CH2-CH2-OH) vapors and found that they respond
rather sensitively to 2-mercaptoethanol vapors. Such microcantilevers can b
e used to develop sensitive micromechanical chemical sensors for detecting
sulfur-containing compounds. Microcantilevers with a gold coating on one si
de respond to adsorption of molecules by changes in their resonance frequen
cy and/or bending. The bending induced from adsorption of 2-mercaptoethanol
molecules on microcantilevers is at least an order of magnitude more sensi
tive than any corresponding resonance frequency changes resulting from mass
loading. In the present studies, we used the adsorption-induced bending an
d placed a lower limit in the minimum detectable concentration of mercaptan
vapor at < 50 parts per billion (ppb). (C) 1999 Elsevier Science S.A. All
rights reserved.