Functionalization of electrostatic nonlinearities to overcome mode aliasing limitations in the sensitivity of mass microsensors based on energy localization
Toky Rabenimanana, Vincent Walter, Najib Kacem, Patrice Le Moal, Gilles Bourbon, Joseph Lardiès
Abstract
In order to overcome mode aliasing limitation in linear mode-localized sensors, we demonstrate in this Letter both theoretically and experimentally how to tune the electrostatic nonlinearity and exceed the ultimate sensitivity reachable in the linear regime. A mass sensor composed of two coupled micro-cantilevers with different lengths is considered and the results show that the sensitivity can be significantly enhanced up to 67%. By performing experiments on the fabricated device and depositing the mass perturbation with a focused ion beam, the same phenomenon was observed. These promising results open the way toward ultrasensitive multimodal microsensors with functionalized nonlinearities.