Micro- and nanomechanical sensors for environmental, chemical, and biological detection

Abstract

Micro- and nanoelectromechanical systems, including cantilevers and other small scale structures, have been studied for sensor applications. Accurate sensing of gaseous or aqueous environments, chemical vapors, and biomolecules have been demonstrated using a variety of these devices that undergo static deflections or shifts in resonant frequency upon analyte binding. In particular, biological detection of viruses, antigens, DNA, and other proteins is of great interest. While the majority of currently used detection schemes are reliant on biomarkers, such as fluorescent labels, time, effort, and chemical activity could be saved by developing an ultrasensitive method of label-free mass detection. Micro- and nanoscale sensors have been effectively applied as label-free detectors. In the following, we review the technologies and recent developments in the field of micro- and nanoelectromechanical sensors with particular emphasis on their application as biological sensors and recent work towards integrating these sensors in microfluidic systems.