Length and thickness dependence of longitudinal flexural resonance frequency shifts of a piezoelectric microcantilever sensor due to Young's modulus change

Abstract

For piezoelectric microcantilever sensors (PEMSs) whose resonance frequency shift during detection is due to Young's modulus change in the piezoelectric layer, we showed that their detection longitudinal flexural resonance frequency shift, Δf, is inversely proportional to the square of the PEMS length, L2; their relative resonance frequency shift, Δf/f, inversely proportional to the PEMS thickness, t; and their mass detection sensitivity, Δf/Δm, inversely proportional to w L3 where w is the width. The resonance frequency shift caused by Young's modulus change in the piezoelectric layer is more than 300 times larger than would be expected from the mass change. © 2008 American Institute of Physics.