Force measurement using quartz crystal resonator integrated with sample clamping unit

In this paper, we propose a mechanical characterization system using a load sensing chip which consists a sample clamping integrated with a load sensor. In order to measure the mechanical characteristics of thin membrane, there are two keys for force measurement; a wide measurement range and the clamping method of thin sample. To meet these requirements, we integrate the load sensor using quartz crystal resonator (QCR) with the microfluidic suction device as a sample clamping unit. In order to obtain the high resolution for force sensing, we evaluated the effectiveness of thickness of QCR on the sensitivity. By using the thinner QCR of 15 pm, we achieved the 96812.7 Hz/N as the sensitivity of QCR load sensor. We fabricated the proposed load sensing chip using thinner QCR, and measured the tensile force of ILM model using the constructed measurement system.