Using nonlinearity to enhance micro/nanosensor performance

Resonant microelectromechanical systems are key building blocks for many microsensor applications, including mass detection, inertial detection and RF filters and timing oscillators. Especially in systems with low damping, amplitudes are such that nonlinearities are present. In many applications, these nonlinearities can be significant, and need to be accounted for. In this paper, mass sensing of DNT will be discussed in the context of an application where understanding and cleverly utilizing nonlinearity results in improved sensor performance.