Microcantilever-Based Biosensor for Detection of Various Biomolecules

Abstract

We propose an optical and an electrical methods for detecting various biomolecules effectively with microcantilevers. The microcantilevers were fabricated employing surface micromachining technique that has attractive advantages in terms of cost efficiency, simplicity and ability of fabricating in array. The fluid cell system for injection of biomolecular solution is fabricated using poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) and a fused silica glass. The microcantilever is deflected with respect to the difference of the surface stress caused by the formation of self-assembled biomolecules on the gold coated side of the microcantilever. It detected cystamine dihydrochloride and glutaraldehyde molecules and analyzed individual concentrations of the cystamine dihydrochloride solution. We confirm that the deflections of bending-up or bending-down are occurred by the biomolecule adsorption and microcantilever can be widely used to a micro total analysis system (µ-TAS) and a lab-on-a-chip for a potential detection of various biomolecules.