Design Optimization of Portable Single Crystal Silicon Microresonators With Passively Self-Sealing Microfluidic Conduits for Fluidic and Biological Sensing Applications

谐振微传感器已经成为一个强大的平台，用于测量物理量（质量，力，加速度，压力，电荷），具有前所未有的分辨率。将这些能力扩展到感兴趣的生物学和医学数量（蛋白质，病毒）可以开辟宝贵的机会，对医疗诊断和护理质量产生潜在的巨大影响。然而，在实现这项技术的潜力之前，必须克服许多挑战。这些挑战确定了拟议研究的目标。第一个挑战是固有的操作模式：当一个谐振微器件在流体环境中工作时，谐振器的动态特性下降，导致灵敏度急剧下降。具体地，流体介质导致阻尼的急剧增加和振动频移分辨率的相应降低。解决这个问题的一种最近的方法是一种新的设备架构，包括在真空腔中振荡的流体填充的微谐振器。与生物流体的相互作用发生在装置内部的复杂纳米流体通道内：这些通道足够大以允许有用的感测，但足够小以使不利影响最小化。探索目前未知的结构和操作参数（几何形状，流体特性，流量）对动力学（频率，阻尼和振动稳定性）的影响，然后将这些发现转化为有用的设计指南，将是拟议研究的第一个主要步骤。第二个挑战是为这些流体填充的微谐振器创建紧凑的独立平台。将开发新的系统级设计，以提高易用性。因此，拟议的研究将产生关于一类有前途的流体填充微谐振器的动力学的基础知识，并建立用于创建快速和多功能医疗诊断平台的新技术。

Resonant micro sensors have emerged as a powerful platform for measuring physical quantities (mass, force, acceleration, pressure, electric charge) with unprecedented resolution. Extending these capabilities to sense quantities of interest (proteins, virus) for biology and medicine can open up valuable opportunities with potentially enormous impact on medical diagnostics and quality-of-care. However, many challenges must be overcome before the potential of this technology can be realized. These challenges define the objectives of the proposed research. The first challenge is inherent in the mode of operation: when a resonant microdevice operates in fluidic environments, the dynamic characteristics of the resonator degrade, leading to a precipitous loss of sensitivity. Specifically, the fluid medium leads to a sharp increase in damping and a corresponding decrease in the vibration frequency shift resolution. One recent approach to solve this problem is a new device architecture consisting of fluid-filled microresonators that oscillates in a vacuum cavity. The interaction with the biological fluid occurs within intricate nanofluidic channels inside the device: these are large enough to permit useful sensing, but sufficiently small so as to minimize adverse effects. Exploring the currently unknown effects of structural and operating parameters (geometry, fluid properties, flow rates) on dynamics (frequency, damping and stability of vibrations), and then translating these findings into useful design guidelines, will be the first major step of the proposed research. The second challenge is to create a compact self-contained platform for these fluid-filled microresonators. A new systems-level design will be developed to enhance the ease of use. Thus, the proposed research will generate fundamental knowledge on the dynamics of a promising class of fluid-filled microresonators and establish new technologies for creating a rapid and versatile medical diagnostics platform.