Quartz crystal microbalance biochip with ultrasonic standing wave enhancement

This study designs, fabricates and tests a novel biochip containing a quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) sensor and a piezoelectric transducer which enhances performance by production of ultrasonic standing waves (USW). Biotin–streptavidin binding is used as a model in real experiments with a prototype USW–QCM biochip to verify that USW enhancement greatly improves biochip detection sensitivity and reduces detection time by increasing the effective analyte concentration. Fabrication methodology is detailed and underlying theory is given. The presented design shows good promise for development into a practical commercial system for enhanced real-time in situ detection of protein–ligand interactions in medical and pharmaceutical applications.