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Graduate Students Research Seminar At a glance:
Analog Circuit Design for Active Microcantilever Signal Amplification |
Microcantilevers have been used in a wide range of applications for the imaging of surfaces, studies of the unfolding and kinetics of proteins, antibody-antigen unbinding, etc. The Atomic Force Microscope is a popular use of the microcantilever, uses a reflection off the tip of the beam as its measurement signal. However, the use of lasers in an array of microcantilevers would either call for a “steerable” laser or multiple laser sources. The alternative to such bulky requirements is to use active microcantilevers, allowing each cantilever to have its own, self-contained, electrical signal. The use of piezoelectric devices allows for simultaneous sensing and actuation, however remarkably few studies have been done on piezo devices on the micron scale. Being used to detect the unbinding of antibody-antigen pairs. The micron scale of these devices brings about sensing signals of <10-16 C and/or ~10-9A. When an unbinding event occurs, the cantilever is likely to snap back at resonance, giving off a signal at some corresponding frequency. Said frequency may be identical to a frequency containing a great deal of noise that cannot be sufficiently diminished. Active microcantilevers must be designed and tuned to a particular resonant frequency in order to garner the best signal. Op-Amp filters must also be designed in order to separate such small signals from the characteristic and uncharacteristic noise present in the environment. |
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