Micromechanical cantilevers show great potential as highly sensitive biochemical sensors. Cantilever-based sensing involves the transduction of a biomolecular interaction to a measurable mechanical change in the cantilever resulting from induced surface stresses added mass. In surface stress sensing applications, one side of the cantilever beam is rendered sensitive to a specific target molecul...

A new experimental method is introduced in order to characterize the mechanical properties of metallic nanowires. An accurate mechanical characterization of nanowires requires simultaneous imaging using scanning electron microscope (SEM) and mechanical testing with an atomic force microscope (AFM). In this study, an AFM is located inside an SEM chamber in order to establish the visibility of th...

Micro and nano electromechanical resonators have been widely used as single or multiple-mass detection sensors. Smaller devices with higher resonance frequencies and lower masses offer higher mass responsivities but suffer from lower frequency stability. Synchronization phenomena in multiple MEMS resonators have become an important issue because they allow frequency stability improvement, there...

   During past decade the AFM based nanomanipulation has been focus of attention as the promising nano fabrication approach. The main challenge in this process is the real-time monitoring. Consequently, the dynamic models have been proposed as a solution to the existing challenge. In the modeling approach the magnitudes of the forces are proportional to the stiffness coefficients o...

Surface-modification of the elastomer poly(dimethylsiloxane) by exposure to oxygen plasma for four minutes creates a thin, stiff film. In this study, the thickness and mechanical properties of this surface-modified layer were determined. Using the phase image capabilities of a tapping-mode atomic-force microscope, the surface-modified region was distinguished from the bulk PDMS; specifically, i...

The charge distribution on the surface of a biased conductive, finite-length, cylindrical nanotube, free standing above an infinite grounded plane, is investigated. The diameter range of the cylinder tube under study is 20–60 nm, which is much larger than the screening length, meaning the quantum and statistical effects on the charge distribution are negligible. The relationship between the cha...

Tip-enhanced Raman mapping is a powerful, emerging technique that offers rich chemical information and high spatial resolution. Currently, most of the successes in tip-enhanced Raman scattering (TERS) measurements are based on the inverted configuration where tips and laser are approaching the sample from opposite sides. This results in the limitation of measurement for transparent samples only...

IO N The mammalian olfactory system uses about four hundred cross-responsive receptors located at the end of olfactory neurons for exquisite detection and discrimination of tens of thousands of different odorant molecules. Each odorant, with its particular shape, size, functional group, and charge combination, induces a unique combinatorial response, or odorant code, from a library of olfactory...

This paper uses finite element method to obtain the optimal performance of piezoresistive microcantilever sensor by optimizing the geometrical dimension of both cantilever and piezoresistor. A 250 μm x 100 μm x 1 μm SiO2 cantilever integrated with 0.2 μm thick Si piezoresistor was used in this study. The sensor performance was measured on the basis of displacement sensitivity and surface stress...

The mechanical properties of biological tissue describe its behavior under pressure or force. These intrinsic tissue properties can often be related to function. For instance, the spine provides strength and structural support and the ribcage and skull offer protection for delicate internal organs such as the lungs and the brain. On a smaller scale, it has been shown that cells and tissues feel...