Microcantilever sensors

Microfabricated cantilevers have been used in atomic force microscopy for the topography imaging of non-conductive surfaces for more than 20 years. Cantilever beams without tips have proved their applicability in recent years as miniaturized, ultrasensitive, and fast-responding sensors for applications in chemistry, physics, biochemistry, and medicine. Microcantilever sensors respond by bending due to the absorption of molecules. A shift in resonance frequency also occurs. They can be operated in different environments such as gaseous environment, liquids, or vacuum. In gas, microcantilever sensors can be operated as an artificial nose, whereby the bending pattern of a microfabricated array of eight polymer-coated silicon cantilevers is characteristic of the different vapors from solvents, flavors, and beverages. When operated in a liquid, microcantilever sensors are able to detect biochemical reactions. Each cantilever is functionalized with a specific biochemical probe receptor, sensitive for detection of the corresponding target molecule. Applications lie in the fields of label- and amplification-free detection of DNA hybridization, the detection of proteins as well as antigen-antibody reactions, and the detection of larger entities, such as bacteria and fungi.