Avoiding transduction-induced heating in suspended microchannel resonators using piezoelectricity

Area of Science:

• Nanotechnology and Nanoscience
• Biophysical Measurement Techniques
• Thermodynamics and Calorimetry

Background:

• Single biological entity calorimetry is a significant challenge.
• Suspended microchannel resonators (SMRs) are promising for real-time analyte detection.
• Existing optical readout methods for SMRs suffer from heat dissipation and noise.

Purpose of the Study:

• To demonstrate on-chip piezoelectric transduction for SMRs.
• To investigate the impact of laser-induced heating on SMR performance.
• To evaluate piezoelectric transduction as a low-dissipative alternative for calorimetry.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication and implementation of SMRs with on-chip piezoelectric transduction.
• Application of a laser Doppler vibrometer to measure resonance frequency shifts.
• Systematic variation of fluid flow rates to assess heat dissipation mechanisms.

Main Results:

• Laser application to water-filled SMRs induced a measurable resonance frequency shift, indicative of local heating.
• Increased flow rates reduced the frequency shift, confirming the role of convection in heat dissipation.
• Laser illumination degraded the frequency stability of the SMRs.

Conclusions:

• On-chip piezoelectric transduction in SMRs is feasible for calorimetry.
• Piezoelectric readout offers a low-dissipative approach compared to optical methods.
• This technique holds potential for accurate thermal property measurements of single entities.