Electrostatic excitation for the force amplification of microcantilever sensors

This paper describes an electrostatic excited microcantilever sensor operating in static mode that is more sensitive than traditional microcantilevers. The proposed sensor comprises a simple microcantilever with electrostatic excitation ability and an optical or piezoresistive detector. Initially th...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) Switzerland), 2011-11, Vol.11 (11), p.10129-10142
Main Authors: Shokuhfar, Ali, Heydari, Payam, Ebrahimi-Nejad, Salman
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Algorithms
Amplification
Biosensing Techniques - instrumentation
Biosensing Techniques - methods
Biosensors
Computer Simulation
Displacement
Electric noise
Electric potential
Electrodes
Electrostatics
Excitation
force amplification
Load
Micro-Electrical-Mechanical Systems - instrumentation
Micro-Electrical-Mechanical Systems - methods
microcantilever
Microelectromechanical systems
Models, Theoretical
Nonlinearity
pull-in voltage
Sensors
Silicon
Static Electricity
Stress concentration
Voltage
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Summary:This paper describes an electrostatic excited microcantilever sensor operating in static mode that is more sensitive than traditional microcantilevers. The proposed sensor comprises a simple microcantilever with electrostatic excitation ability and an optical or piezoresistive detector. Initially the microcantilever is excited by electrostatic force to near pull-in voltage. The nonlinear behavior of the microcantilever in near pull-in voltage i.e., the inverse-square relation between displacement and electrostatic force provides a novel method for force amplification. In this situation, any external load applied to the sensor will be amplified by electrostatic force leading to more displacement. We prove that the proposed microcantilever sensor can be 2 to 100 orders more sensitive compared with traditional microcantilevers sensors of the same dimensions. The results for surface stress and the free-end point force load are discussed.
ISSN:1424-8220
1424-8220
DOI:10.3390/s111110129