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

谐振式微型传感器已经成为以前所未有的分辨率测量物理量(质量、力、加速度、压力、电荷)的强大平台。将这些能力扩展到对生物学和医学感兴趣的数量(蛋白质、病毒)，可以打开宝贵的机会，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。这些挑战明确了拟议研究的目标。第一个挑战是操作模式所固有的：当谐振式微器件在流体环境中操作时，谐振器的动态特性退化，导致敏感度急剧下降。具体地说，流体介质导致了阻尼的急剧增加和振动频移分辨率的相应降低。最近解决这一问题的一种方法是一种新的设备体系结构，它由充满流体的微谐振器组成，在真空腔中振荡。与生物流体的相互作用发生在设备内部复杂的纳米流体通道中：这些通道足够大，可以进行有用的传感，但足够小，以最大限度地减少不利影响。探索目前未知的结构和运行参数(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充满流体的微谐振器创造一个紧凑的自给式平台。将开发一种新的系统级设计，以增强易用性。因此，拟议的研究将产生关于一类有前途的充液微谐振器动力学的基础知识，并建立用于创建快速和通用的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.