Micro-fabricated sensor arrays have immense potential to become an accurate, quantitative and high-throughput analysis tool for chemical and biological sensing. In the recent years, several microcantilever sensors using surface stress transduction principle have been developed to address this need [1]. However, the design of these sensors is limited by the high mechanical rigidity of the silicon based materials used in fabrication. The cantilever geometry also has limitations in liquid media, which is common in biological applications, because of non-specific adsorption on the back side of the cantilever. The optical detection methods used for measuring the microcantilever deflection are also not amenable to miniaturization. In this paper we demonstrate a novel parylene micro-membrane sensor that exploits the low mechanical stiffness of polymers and addresses the above issues. The concept of a polymer micro-membrane surface stress sensor was first presented by the authors using parylene as the membrane material [2] and later by Rodriguez et al using PDMS membranes [3]. The salient features of the sensor are that it: (i) is label free; (ii) is a universal platform - suitable for both chemical and biological sensing, (iii) uses electronic (capacitive detection) readout; (iv) has integrated microfluidics for addressing individual sensors on the chip (v) is capable of handling both liquid and gas samples; (vi) is made using standard low temperature microfabrication processes (< 120 C); and (vii) can readily be scaled and multiplexed.

1.
Lavrik
N. V.
, et al.,
2005
, “
Cantilever transducers as platforms for chemical and biological sensors
,”
Review of Scientific Instruments
, Vol.
75
(
7
), pp.
2229
53
.
2.
S. Satyanarayana, et al., “Nanomechanical Biosensor using Polymer Membranes,” ASME Integrated Nanosystems: Design Synthesis & Applications, September 2004, Pasadena, California.
3.
R. Rodriguez, et al., “Bio/chemical Sensing by Thin Membrane Transducers,” ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition, November 2004, Anaheim, California.
4.
Saiyanarayana
S.
, et al.,
2005
, “
Stamp-and-stick room-temperature bonding technique for microdevices
,”
Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems
,
14
(
2
) pp.
392
99
.
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