Detecting the stiffness and mass of biochemical adsorbates by a resonator sensor

The biochemical adsorption on a resonator sensor can result in the changes of both stiffness and mass. If the effect of stiffness is not considered, the resonator response will be wrongly interpreted. Determining the adsorbate stiffness and mass by the shifts of resonant frequency formulates an inverse problem. The inverse problem is solved by varying the adsorbate thickness and measuring the corresponding shifts of resonant frequencies. With the technique of solving the inverse problem, a micro/nanomechanical resonator can be used to identify what kind of material an adsorbate is, which is more than a mass resonator sensor.