Main > NANOTECHNOLOGY > Mass "Weighing" NEMS > Org.: USA. C. (Description/Patent) > Description
In the never-ending quest to measure, analyze, tweak, and otherwise engage ever smaller amounts of stuff, Author have devised a nanoelectromechanical system device capable of "weighing" masses in the zeptogram (zg = 10-21 g) range. The device s sensing elements are diminutive beams of silicon carbide clamped on each end to larger SiC bases, which then integrate with the rest of the device s electronics. The beams, 150 nm wide and 2,300 nm long, are set to vibrate at multi-megahertz frequencies. When the researchers use a tiny nozzle to puff small plumes of xenon or nitrogen at the device, the beam s flexing frequency slows a tad, but enough that the researchers can detect masses as low as 7 zg, which corresponds to about 30 xenon atoms or individual peptides several tens of amino acids long. Among the potential applications for molecular-weighing devices like these are ultrasenstive detectors of chemical and biological warfare agents.
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