Comparison of Cantilever shapes for Maximizing Sensitivity

Cantilever beam structures are those structures which are fixed at one end and the other end is free to move. Cantilever beams can be used for a variety of applications like sensing gases, actuation, temperature detection, chemical, physical and biological detection. The sensitivity of these Cantilever beam structure needs to be increased for sensing target molecules in very small concentration and being able to react to very small actuating mechanical forces. Along with this the time taken to sense the target molecules needs to be reduced. In the present work various geometries of the cantilever beam are proposed. The deflection of simple cantilever beam, cantilever beam with stress concentrator, cantilever beam with slot and hammerhead cantilever beam have been compared by adding a fixed amount of weight on the cantilever surface using finite element method. The fixed amount of weight represents the weight of the adsorbed target molecules or the mechanical forces which act on the cantilever beam.