Sensor based on piezoresistive microcantilever technology

A new type of micromechanical sensor has been developed that incorporates piezoresistive microcantilevers, such as those used in scanning force microscope (SFM) instruments. In these devices, the microcantilever is in direct contact with an active sensing material, which may be a common organic polymer or a biologically active sensing layer. Upon analyte exposure, the cantilever directly measures the swelling or volume expansion experienced by an active sensing material. Individual microcantilever sensors may be incorporated into an array in which pattern recognition techniques are used to identify a wide variety of chemical or biological analytes. In addition, these devices are compact, lightweight, and require only simple, inexpensive support electronics. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.