Adsorption-induced surface stress effect on the resonance behavior of a quartz crystal microbalance

Abstract

The effect of adsorption-induced surface stress on the response of a quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) with reduced size is investigated. The model proposed here incorporates the adsorption-induced surface stress into the basic equations, where surface stress is characterized by experimentally determined parameters. Some numerical examples show that as the dimensions of a QCM shrinks, surface stress trends to play an important role in sensing, and is more significant for smaller scales. Therefore, the measured resonance frequency shift of a QCM is induced by combination of mass loading and adsorption-induced surface stress. The model discussed here can be used to provide an insight into the fundamental understanding of the effect of adsorption-induced surface stress on micro- and nano-QCM response of deposited metal films, or bio-molecular adsorption. Copyright © 2006 by ASME.