Bio-mass sensor using an electrostatically actuated microcantilever in a vacuum microchannel

The present work focuses on the dynamic analysis of a bio-mass sensor. The main component of this microsystem is a cantilever beam placed in a vacuum microchannel with a proof mass attached to its end. The rigid mass is coupled to an electrode to capacitively drive the beam. The operating principle is based on detecting the shift in the resonance frequency of the microbeam to measure the mass of a cell deposited on the sensing tip. We show that the present system enables easy detection and measurement of the added mass. To gain insight into the microsystem sensitivity to variations in its parameters, such as the gap distance and tip mass, as well as the use of higher-order modes, we examine their effects on the variation of the resonance frequency shift with respect to the added mass.