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Published May 31, 2004 | Published
Journal Article Open

Ultrasensitive nanoelectromechanical mass detection

Abstract

We describe the application of nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS) to ultrasensitive mass detection. In these experiments, a modulated flux of atoms was adsorbed upon the surface of a 32.8 MHz NEMS resonator within an ultrahigh-vacuum environment. The mass-induced resonance frequency shifts by these adsorbates were then measured to ascertain a mass sensitivity of 2.53×10^–18 g. In these initial measurements, this sensitivity is limited by the noise in the NEMS displacement transducer; the ultimate limits of the technique are set by fundamental phase noise processes. Our results and analysis indicate that mass sensing of individual molecules will be realizable with optimized NEMS devices.

Additional Information

© 2004 American Institute of Physics. (Received 6 January 2004; accepted 26 March 2004; published online 14 May 2004) The authors gratefully acknowledge support for this work from DARPA MTO/MEMS under Caltech Grant No. DABT63-98-1-0012.

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