Optical detection back-action in cantilever resonant or static detection presents a challenge when striving for state-of-the-art performance. The origin and possible routes for minimizing optical back-action have received little attention in literature. Here, we investigate the position and mode dependent optical back-action on cantilever beam resonators. A high power heating laser (100 mu W) is scanned across a silicon nitride cantilever while its effect on the first three resonance modes is detected via a low-power readout laser (1 mu W) positioned at the cantilever tip. We find that the measured effect of back-action is not only dependent on position but also the shape of the resonance mode. Relevant silicon nitride material parameters are extracted by fitting finite element (FE) simulations to the temperature-dependent frequency response of the first three modes. In a second round of simulations, using the extracted parameters, we successfully fit the FEM results with the measured mode and position dependent back-action. From the simulations, we can conclude that the observed frequency tuning is due to temperature induced changes in stress. Effects of changes in material properties and dimensions are negligible. Finally, different routes for minimizing the effect of this optical detection back-action are described, allowing further improvements of cantilever-based sensing in general.

This paper describes a polarized-light imaging interferometer to measure the rotation field of reflecting surfaces. This setup is based on a homemade prism featuring a birefringence gradient. The arrangement is presented before focusing on the homemade prism and its manufacturing process. The dependence of the measured optical phase on the rotation of the surface is derived, thus highlighting the key parameters driving the sensitivity. The system's capabilities are illustrated by imaging the rotation field at the surface of a tip-loaded polymer specimen.

In this simulation study, integration of a nanocantilever inside a two-dimensional (2D) photonic crystal (PC) cavity resulted in a unique photonic crystal-cantilever cavity (PC3), where the cantilever served as a tunable mechanical defect of the PC slab. Strong nano-opto-mechanical interactions between the cantilever and the defect-mode field inside the PC3 gave rise to a high sensitivity of the resonance wavelength to surface stress-induced cantilever deflection. Mechanical and optical responses of the PC3 to surface stress changes on the cantilever surface were studied by using a finite-element method (FEM) and a finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method, respectively. Theoretical analysis revealed that the devised PC3 sensor could resolve a conservative minimum surface stress at the level of ∼0.8 mN m−1, representing state-of-the-art cantilever sensor performance. Also, the PC3 sensor design used an ultracompact structure with an on-chip optical length of only several microns, while a conventional reflected laser beam detection scheme requires a ∼1 m long free-space optical path.

Vapor detection using a low-refractive index polymer for reflection modulation of the top mirror in a vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) is demonstrated. The VCSEL sensor concept presents a simple method to detect the response of a sensor polymer in the presence of volatile organic compounds. We model the physics as a change in the top mirror loss caused by swelling of the polymer upon absorbing the target volatile organic compound. Further we show how acetone vapors at 82 000 ppm concentration can change the polymer coated VCSEL output power by 20 μW.

This work presents a fully-functional, microfabricated electrochemical-cantilever hybrid platform with flow control. A new cantilever chip format is designed, fabricated, and mounted in a custom polymer flow cell. Issues such as leakage and optical/electrical access are addressed, and combined mechanical and electrochemical performance is investigated. Lastly, a cantilever is “defunctionalized” in situ to create a reference cantilever for differential measurements in detection of Cu 2+ ions at concentrations of 10 μM and 100 nM.

Microfabricated cantilevers are proving their potential as excellent tools for analysis applications. In this paper, we describe the design, fabrication and testing of resonant micro cantilevers with integrated transparent fluidic channels. The cantilevers have been devised to measure the density of fluids or detect particles suspended in a fluid by sensing the change in total mass of the structure. The 4×4μm2 integrated microfluidic channel makes it possible to flow a fluid through the channel while the cantilevers are resonating. The movement of any particles (present in the fluid) can be visually observed through the transparent fluidic channel. The resonant frequency of the cantilever is changed by the fluid inside the channel, due to the change in mass. The shift in the resonant frequency can be translated into a density of the fluid or into the presence of macro/micro molecules. Such cantilevers can be used as density sensors, to monitor growth of biological cells, measure mass of particles, etc.

Resonant strings are a promising concept for ultra sensitive temperature detection. We present an analytical model for the sensitivity with which we optimize the temperature response of resonant strings by varying geometry and material. The temperature sensitivity of silicon nitride and aluminum microstrings was measured. The relative change in resonant frequency per temperature change of −1.74±0.04%/°C of the aluminum strings is more than one order of magnitude higher than of the silicon nitride strings and of comparable state-of-the-art AuPd strings.

The field of cantilever-based sensing emerged in the mid-1990s and is today a well-known technology for label-free sensing which holds promise as a technique for cheap, portable, sensitive and highly parallel analysis systems. The research in sensor realization as well as sensor applications has increased significantly over the past 10 years. In this review we will present the basic modes of operation in cantilever-like micromechanical sensors and discuss optical and electrical means for signal transduction. The fundamental processes for realizing miniaturized cantilevers are described with focus on silicon-and polymer-based technologies. Examples of recent sensor applications are given covering such diverse fields as drug discovery, food diagnostics, material characterizations and explosives detection.

The design and fabrication of a combined electrochemical-cantilever microfluidic system is described. A chip integrating cantilevers with electrodes into a microchannel is presented with the accompanying polymer flow cell. Issues such as electrical and fluid connections are addressed, electromechanical behavior in ionic solution is investigated, and two uses of the system are demonstrated. First, all cantilevers are functionalized with cysteine, to facilitate detection of Cu2+ ions, then one cantilever is electrochemically cleaned in situ to generate a reference cantilever for differential measurements. Two concentrations of Cu2+ ions are successfully measured in this way. Clean cantilevers are used to probe a solution with and without [Fe(CN)6]3−/4− redox couple present, demonstrating the combined voltammetric and deflection readout.

Microcantilevers can be fabricated in TOPAS by nanoimprint lithography, with the dimensions of 500 ¿m length 4.5 ¿m thickness and 100 ¿m width. By using a plasma polymerization technique it is possible to selectively functionalize individually cantilevers with a polymer coating, on wafer scale by using a shadow masking technique.

It has been speculated that the initial bending of cantilevers has a major influence on the detector signal in a cantilever-based sensor using the optical lever readout method. We have investigated theoretically as well as experimentally the changes induced in the detector signal when the optical lever technique is used to monitor a cantilever with initial bending during changes in the refractive index of the surrounding media. We find that for changes in refractive index as small as 10(-4) the detector signal is highly dependent on the initial bending of the cantilever. The findings are validated experimentally using an environmental chamber and varying the pressure. We sketch routes to circumvent the problem and formulas suitable for data treatment are given.

In this work we have demonstrated a peptide-functionalized cantilever sensor with integrated electrochemical capabilities. Silicon nitride cantilevers with gold electrodes are functionalized with the chelating peptide Cys-Gly-Gly-His (CGGH) to capture Cu2+ ions from solution. Upon binding the copper ion the peptide folds, creating steric hindrance and causing compressive stress in the monolayer, deflecting the cantilever downward. Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) was used to remove the copper ions from the peptide, regenerating the layer. A Cysteine monolayer deflected the cantilever upward with Cu2+ ions, indicating tensile stress in the layer, suggesting a different coordination scheme than the CGGH peptide layer.

Micro- and nanomechanical resonators are widely being used as mass sensors due to their unprecedented mass sensitivity. We present a simple closed-form expression which allows a fast and quantitative calculation of the position and mass of individual particles placed on a micro or nano string by measuring the resonant frequency shifts ofthe first two bending modes. The method has been tested by detecting the mass spectrum of micro particles placed on a micro string. This method enables real-time mass spectrometry necessary for applications such as personal monitoring devices for the assessment of theexposure dose of airborne nanoparticles.

We present a study of the drift, in terms of cantilever deflections without probe/target interactions, of polymeric SU8 cantilevers. The drift is measured in PBS buffer (pH 7.4) and under vacuum (1mbar) conditions. We see that the cantilevers display a large drift in both environments. We believe this is because the polymer matrix absorbs liquid in one situation whereas it is being degassed in the other. An inhomogeneous expansion/contraction of the cantilever is seen because one surface of the cantilever may still have remains of the release layer from the fabrication. To further study the effect, we coat the cantilevers with a hydrophobic coating, perfluorodecyltrichlorosilane (FDTS). Fully encapsulating the SU8 cantilever greatly reduces the drift in liquid whereas a less significant change is seen in vacuum.

A functionalization procedure is integrated in the fabrication of micromechanical SU-8 cantilevers in order to chemically bind organic-capped Fe2O3 NCs at the photoresist surface, under visible light, ambient atmosp here and room temperature. The achieved highly interconnected NC multilayer network is demonstrated an active layer for real-time detection of acetone vapor molecules.

We report a new method for monitoring vapor concentration of volatile organic compounds using a vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL). The VCSEL is coated with a polymer thin film on the top distributed Bragg reflector (DBR). The analyte absorption is transduced to the electrical domain through modulation of the VCSEL output power as the polymer swell. We have investigated the responsivity of this technique experimentally using a plasma polymerized polystyrene coating and explain the results theoretically as a reflectance modulation of the top DBR.

Resonant microcantilevers are highly sensitive to added masses and have the potential to be used as mass-spectrometers. However, making the detection of individual added masses quantitative requires the position determination for each added mass. We derive expressions relating the position and mass of several added particles to the resonant frequencies of a cantilever, and an identification procedure valid for particles with different masses is proposed. The identification procedure is tested by calculating positions and mass of multiple microparticles with similar mass positioned on individual microcantilevers. Excellent agreement is observed between calculated and measured positions and calculated and theoretical masses.