A Modified Triple Coupled Cantilever for Single Cell Physical Cytometry for Mass Sensing Applications

The physical cytometry of single cells is indispensable in understanding different disease prognosis states in the human body. Among the physical cytometry parameters, mass plays a vital role in understanding cell behaviour, which necessitates disease diagnosis at early stages. Micro-Electromechanical Systems (MEMS) resonators have been proficient in Mass sensing applications but often hinder performance due to sensitivity and surface modification techniques, especially for single-cell studies. Mechanical coupling of these micro-resonators has shown characteristics and eigenmodes that are suitable for various applications, including mass sensing, which eliminates challenges of sensitivity. Coupled systems of cantilevers are still being researched, and two- and triple-coupled cantilevers have proven to be effective in mass sensing applications in specific second modes of excitation. In this paper, we have proposed a modified Triple Couple Cantilever (TCC) that is structurally modified for the entrapment of single cells by maintaining the coupling, for which surface modification of single entrapment is also proposed. This work is approached with finite element modelling of the device that displays conventional TCC for the degeneration of coupled eigenstates, which is achieved by LO/LC = 0.3 (overhang to cantilever length). The structural modification is achieved that can entrap single cells and demonstrate the coupling stability of the modified TCC. The mass responses of the device from a range of 10pg to 100pg for both the TCC and Modified TCC are calibrated. The mass sensitivity is achieved around 0.8×105 µm for a 10pg of mass addition.