Document Type

Article

Language

eng

Format of Original

7 p.

Publication Date

2-2007

Publisher

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)

Source Publication

IEEE Sensors Journal

Source ISSN

1530-437X

Original Item ID

doi: 10.1109/JSEN.2006.888600

Abstract

Microcantilevers with polymer coatings hold great promise as resonant chemical sensors. It is known that the sensitivity of the coated cantilever increases with coating thickness; however, increasing this thickness also results in an increase of the frequency noise due to a decrease of the quality factor. By taking into account only the losses associated with the silicon beam and the surrounding medium, the decrease of the quality factor cannot be explained. In this paper, an analytical expression is obtained for the quality factor, which accounts for viscoelastic losses in the coating. This expression explains the observed decrease of the quality factor with increasing polymer thickness. This result is then used to demonstrate that an optimum coating thickness exists that will maximize the signal-to-noise ratio and, thus, minimize the sensor limit of detection

Comments

Accepted version. IEEE Sensors Journal, Vol. 7, No. 2 (February 2007): 230-236. DOI. © 2007 The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. Used with permission.

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