Fabrication and characterization of SiO2 microcantilever for microsensor application

SiO2 microcantilevers were developed to improve the sensitivity of microcantilever sensors. Silicon plasma dry etching technique was employed to release SiO2 cantilever from bulk silicon at high rate using an ordinary 2 μm thickness of SiO2 covered silicon wafer. The V-shaped microcantilever is 200 μm long, 25 μm wide, and 2 μm thick. The spring constant of the cantilevers was measured to be 0.104 N/m. Significant deflection amplitude of the microcantilever was observed upon exposure of low concentration of aminoethanethiol due to its low spring constant.