Chemical sensors and biosensors in liquid environment based on microcantilevers with amplified quality factor

A new technique is presented for bio/chemical sensors, based on microcantil evers, for detection in liquid environment. The low quality Factor of the c antilever in liquid is increased up to three orders of magnitude by using Q -control. This enables AC detection that is immune to the long-term drift o f the DC cantilever response in liquids, and to temperature variations. Thi s technique has been applied for the detection of ethanol in aqueous soluti on by using the microbalance method, and for antibody/antigen recognition b y the surface stress method. The results show the feasibility and very high sensitivity of these novel devices. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rig hts reserved.