MEMS cantilever based identification of carcinogenic MZN

In this paper, a novel Micro Electro Mechanical System (MEMS) based cantilever beam of cross section (400×150×1)μm is presented for the detection of Metronidazole (MZN) which can be used in food processing industry to detect its toxicity level in meat. MZN is a drug that is proven to be carcinogenic if used as feed addictive for cattle breeding or aquafarming. Molecular imprinted Gold cantilever beam serves as a loading platform for MZN with high specificity. On mass loading, MZN bio-molecules get adsorbed on the cantilever. Based on the quantitative adsorption of bio-molecule, density of the cantilever changes which in turn contributes to the change in natural frequency. Finite Element Analysis (FEA) is done using Intellisuite MEMS software where the natural frequency shift in mode 1 is approximately 100Hz and the shift in mode 2 is 1KHz for the bio-molecule adsorption.