Sensitivity Improvement of Piezoelectric Mass Sensing Cantilevers Through Profile Optimization

This work aims to design a piezoelectric cantilever mass sensor in which the cantilever profile was changed to achieve high resonant frequency, so that small mass changes can be measured precisely. A rectangular profile of cantilevers was designed and fabricated using stainless steel with a piezoelectric patch mounted on its top surface. The experimental analysis was executed using an impedance analyzer. To improve the sensitivity, the rectangular profile of the cantilever is made stepped. The first mode of resonant frequencies of the rectangular and stepped-rectangular cantilever profiles was acquired from the experimental analysis and compared with theoretical results. Results showed good consistency between the two results and that stepped-rectangular profile cantilever has shown higher sensitivity than rectangular.