California Institute of Technology

Benjamin Gudlewski

Michael Roukes

Jessica L Arlett

Hongxing Tang

Edward B Myers

Mo Li

Al Gilbertson

Darron K Young

Igor Bargatin

James Maloney

Hong X Tang

Surface ornamentation for a diamond

A biosensor is comprised of a free and a biofunctionalized recognition self-sensing nanocantilever, a dock adjacent to the ends of the nanocantilevers, and a gap between the nanocantilevers and dock. The self-sensing cantilevers each include a semiconductor piezoresistor defined in a pair of legs about which the cantilevers flex. A bias power or current is applied to the piezoresistor. The sensitivity of the cantilevers is optimized for a given ambient temperature and geometry of the cantilevers and dock by minimizing the force spectral density, S, of the cantilevers to determine the optimum bias power, P. A sub-aN/&#x221a;Hz force sensitivity is obtained by scaling down the dimensions of the cantilevers and supplying an optimum bias power as a function of temperature and geometry.

Biological detection based on differentially coupled nanomechanical systems using self-sensing cantilevers with attonewton force resolution

A system containing a micro-mechanical or nano-mechanical device and a method of operating the same is provided. The device includes a resonator and a piezoresistive element connected to the resonator. The method includes AC biasing the piezoresistive element at a first frequency, driving the resonator at a second frequency different from the first frequency, and detecting a mechanical response of the resonator at one or both of a difference frequency and a sum frequency of the first and second frequencies.

Detection of resonator motion using piezoresistive signal downmixing

Growing community of inventors

Pasadena, CA, United States of America

Benjamin Gudlewski