Design a New Piezoelectric Microcantilever Beam for AFM Biosensing Applications

There are numerous advantages of employing piezoelectric microcantilever beams (PMCS) within atomic force microscopy (AFM). This paper reports a new design for PMCS to use as AFM biosensor by finite element modeling. First, a PMCS consists of ZnO thin film as piezoelectric layer and silicon nitride as substrate layer was modeled by ANSYS software. Then sensor sensitivity and actuator response were optimized by employing optimum ZnO and substrate layer thicknesses. In addition, effects of geometry and boundary conditions on PMCSs performance were evaluated. Finally, we introduce a new design for PMCSs as AFM biosensor achieves high sensor sensitivity about 0.16v/μm. The results can be used to form a set of design guidelines to develop performance of PMCSs as AFM biosensor.

Keywords:

AFMbiosensor , Piezoelectricmicrocantilever beam , Zinc oxide , FEM