Silicon made resonant microcantilever: dependence of the chemical sensing performances on the sensitive coating thickness

Frédéric Lochon (1) , Ludivine Fadel (1) , Isabelle Dufour (1) , Dominique Rebiere (1) , Jacques Pistré (1)

1 IMS - Laboratoire de l'intégration, du matériau au système

A gas sensor based on the use of a resonating microcantilever has been realized by using a polymer sensitive coating. From the theoretical study of the microcantilever sensitivity, it has been deduced that the sensitivity is enhanced when the resonant frequency or the sensitive coating thickness are increased. The sensitive coating thickness influence has then been verified experimentally by using polyetherurethane (PEUT) as sensitive coating for ethanol detection. From these measurements, some drawbacks are shown: the coating thickness increase leads to a sensor response time increase and a frequency noise increase which worsens the limit of detection. Conclusions are then made about the sensitive coating optimization depending on application constraint considerations.

Domaines: Micro et nanotechnologies/Microélectronique

Frédéric Lochon, Ludivine Fadel, Isabelle Dufour, Dominique Rebiere, Jacques Pistré. Silicon made resonant microcantilever: dependence of the chemical sensing performances on the sensitive coating thickness. Materials Science and Engineering: C, 2006, 26 (2-3), pp.348-353. ⟨hal-00203739⟩