
279Mechanical Nanosensors
TABLE 4.4
Mechanical Nanosensors at a Glance
Sl.
No. Name of the Nanosensor
Sensed Quantity/
Applications
Nanomaterial/Nanostructure/
Microstructure Used Sensing Principle
1 Quartz crystal microbalance
(QCM)
Mass (up to 10
−13
g) Piezoelectric AT-cut quartz
crystal
Decrease of acoustic wave resonance frequency with
mass loading
2 MEMS/NEMS resonators Mass (up to 10
−18
and 10
−21
g)
NEMS Vibrational resonant frequency (GHz range) shift
from adsorbed molecules
3 Electron tunneling
displacement nanosensor
Displacement Sharp tunneling tip Variation of tunneling current with tunnel gap, as
in STM
4 Coulomb blockade
electrometer
Displacement ...