Piezoelectric micro cantilever sensor for non-labeling detection of biomarker

Using the piezoelectric micro cantilever sensor, biomarkers of various diseases are detected at their critical concentration or below. The detection principle of the sensor is the mass-micro-balancing technique that utilizes the change of the mechanical resonance frequency due to an object attached on a structure. An Ohm-contact electrode is installed to remove the parasitic capacitance effects between the electrodes in the sensor. The first resonant frequency of the piezoelectric micro cantilever can be monitored by measurement of the conductance component of the admittance. The results of the bio-marker-detection experiments show that the detection sensitivity of the micro cantilever is from 2 to 3 orders of magnitude higher than that of the conventional quartz-crystal micro-balancing detection.