To introduce the reader in the subjects of the thesis, Chapter 1 provides an overview on the
different aspects of the mechanical sensors. After a brief introduction to NEMS/MEMS, the
different approaches of mechanical sensing are provided and the main actuation and detection
schemes are described. The chapter ends with an introduction to microfabrication.
Chapter 2 deals with experimental details. In first paragraph the advantages of using a pillar
instead of common horizontal cantilever are illustrated. Then, the fabrication procedures and the
experimental setup for resonance frequencies measurement are described. The concluding
paragraph illustrates the technique, known as dip and dry, I used for coupling mechanical
detection with biological problems.
In Chapter 3, DNA kinetics of adsorption and hybridization efficiency, measured by means of pillar
approach, are reported.
Chapter 4 gives an overview of the preliminary results of two novel applications of pillar approach.
They are the development of a protein chip technology based on pillars and the second is the
combination of pillars and nanografting, an AFM based nanolithography.
Chapter 5 starts with an introduction about the twin cantilever approach and of the mechanically
induced functionalization. Fabrication procedure is described in the second paragraph. Then the
chemical functionalizations are described and proved. Cleaved surface analyses and the
spectroscopic studies of the mechanically induced functionalization are reported.
In Appendix A there is an overview of the physical models that are used in this thesis.
