Towards a Hybrid Mass Sensing System by Combining a QCM Mass Sensor With a 3-DOF Mode Localized Coupled Resonator Stiffness Sensor

This paper describes a hybrid mass sensing system comprising a QCM (quartz crystal microbalance) mass sensor operating under atmospheric pressure and a 3-DOF mode localized coupled resonator operating in vacuum. Nanoparticles as consecutive mass perturbations are added onto the QCM, the output signals with respect to the amount of mass change are then being manipulated to generate electrostatic forces. Subsequently, the electrostatic forces act on the 3-DOF mode localized coupled resonator as external stiffness perturbations. The output metrics of the hybrid systemwere defined as: the resonant frequency shifts, vibration amplitude changes, and the changes in resonance amplitude ratio. Measureddatawas analyzedfor thesemetrics and compared. This work demonstrated that the proposed hybrid mass sensing system attained a 2.5 x10(6) N(m . kg)(-1) mass to stiffness transduction factor, and has the potential to be employed as a direct liquid contact biochemical transducer.

Automated summary

The paper introduces a hybrid mass sensing system comprised of a QCM mass sensor and a 3-DOF mode localized coupled resonator, capable of achieving mass to stiffness transduction and potential application in the field of biochemical sensing.