Microcantilevers for sensing applications

Abstract

Microelectromechanical Systems (MEMS) (1-2) has come into existence only in the last decade. Microcantilevers are the most simplified MEMS based devices. Diverse applications of microcantilevers in the field of sensors have been explored by researchers. Several groups have also shown the possibility of using microcantilevers for the diagnosis of prostate cancer, myocardial infarction and glucose monitoring. Scientists are chasing the vision of making miniaturized biochip based on an array of microcantilevers, which can detect several routinely diagnosed diseases in the clinical laboratory in one parallel go. Recently the development of nanocantilevers has scaled down the technology further with thecapability of ultra- sensitive detection ofanalytes with high throughput.