Cantilever deflection measurement and actuation by an interdigitated transducer

Abstract

A scheme that allows all-electrical high-bandwidth readout of a cantilever deflection by means of an integrated interdigitated transducer is presented. The present approach takes advantage of the piezoelectricity of the chosen cantilever substrate material to generate and detect surface-acoustic-waves by means of an interdigitated transducer (IDT) and to determine cantilever deflections. We shall also show that the same IDT can be used to excite the oscillation modes of the lever. Our scheme is compatible with implementations exploiting wireless excitation and readout and in mass sensing applications. © 2010 American Institute of Physics.