Nano-chemo-mechanical sensor array platform for high-throughput chemical analysis

We have developed a 2-D multiplexed cantilever array platform for high-throughput nanomechanical chemical sensing and analysis. After coating the cantilevers with alkane thiols having different functional end groups, we have performed vapor phase chemical sensing experiments with toluene and water vapor as targets. To overcome non-uniform responses caused by fabrication and imaging issues, the chemical response of each cantilever is self-calibrated using the thermal response of each cantilever. From these experiments, we could observe chemically induced nanoscale motion of cantilevers for various humidity or vapor concentration levels, and response differentiation with different functional end groups of thiols. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.