In-Plane and Out-of-Plane MEMS Piezoresistive Cantilever Sensors for Nanoparticle Mass Detection

In this study, we investigate the performance of two piezoresistive micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS)-based silicon cantilever sensors for measuring target analytes (i.e., ultrafine particulate matters). We use two different types of cantilevers with geometric dimensions of 1000 × 170...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Andi Setiono, Maik Bertke, Wilson Ombati Nyang’au, Jiushuai Xu, Michael Fahrbach, Ina Kirsch, Erik Uhde, Alexander Deutschinger, Ernest J. Fantner, Christian H. Schwalb, Hutomo Suryo Wasisto, Erwin Peiner
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2020-01-01
Series:Sensors
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Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/20/3/618
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Summary:In this study, we investigate the performance of two piezoresistive micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS)-based silicon cantilever sensors for measuring target analytes (i.e., ultrafine particulate matters). We use two different types of cantilevers with geometric dimensions of 1000 &#215; 170 &#215; 19.5 &#181;m<sup>3</sup> and 300 &#215; 100 &#215; 4 &#181;m<sup>3</sup>, which refer to the 1st and 2nd types of cantilevers, respectively. For the first case, the cantilever is configured to detect the fundamental in-plane bending mode and is actuated using a resistive heater. Similarly, the second type of cantilever sensor is actuated using a meandering resistive heater (bimorph) and is designed for out-of-plane operation. We have successfully employed these two cantilevers to measure and monitor the changes of mass concentration of carbon nanoparticles in air, provided by atomizing suspensions of these nanoparticles into a sealed chamber, ranging from 0 to several tens of &#181;g/m<sup>3</sup> and oversize distributions from ~10 nm to ~350 nm. Here, we deploy both types of cantilever sensors and operate them simultaneously with a standard laboratory system (Fast Mobility Particle Sizer, FMPS, TSI 3091) as a reference.
ISSN:1424-8220