Fabrication of a quartz-crystal microbalance/surface-plasmon-resonance hybrid sensor and taking advantage of their responses for evaluation of thin films and liquids

Hybrid sensors of quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) and surface plasmon resonance (SPR) were prepared, and the film depositions, vapor sorptions to polymer films, and liquid properties were observed. The relationship between the SPR wavelength and QCM frequency shifts depends on both the refractive index and the density of the adsorbed molecule and would give information for identification. Furthermore, the swelling of the film can be monitored using the different laws of nature in the SPR and QCM methods.