Finite element analysis of piezoelectric millimeter-sized mass sensors

Recently, researches for improving the performance of the piezoelectric mass sensors in the applications like detection of biochemical entities, virus particles or human biomarkers have increased drastically. In this article, a piezoelectric cantilevered beam mass sensor is modeled using Finite Element Analysis. The model is validated by comparing the simulation results with the experimental ones reported previously. Then, this model is used to explore the influence of added mass position along the beam on sensor performance. Also, the effect of the cantilever beam profile changes on sensor sensitivity is explored. For this purpose, a trapezoidal shaped beam are modeled and examined. It is concluded that the position of the distributed mass on beam and also the pattern in which this mass is distributed dramatically affects the sensitivity; furthermore, by the results, it is concluded that sensors with trapezoidal shaped beam are more sensitive comparing to sensors with the conventional rectangular shaped beam.