SUMMARY

The deflection of micro-cantilevers has various sensing applications. One of the popular and versatile techniques for measuring this deflection is SPM (Surface Probe Microscopy). Since its invention, SPM opened a new horizon of the micro (nano) world toward the curiosity of mankind. Many applications have been developed, and they did not end up with just enabling to see something smaller. However, SPMs have been used in various fields in science and engineering, probes are solely made of silicon and its compounds (SiN) by complex and expensive fabrication methods. Though the cost of manufacturing has decreased due to batch processing, it is still expensive. Furthermore, these silicon based cantilevers are not compatible with some application environments, such as specific biochemical fields. From previous research, alternative way of fabricating SPM probes using micro injection molding was introduced, but this research only used few commonly available, low melting temperature materials with bulky optical sensing method. In this research, precise characterization of micro-molded polymer micro cantilevers will be performed. Micro-cantilevers made of alternative polymer materials which were not used before but show promise in sensing applications will be characterized using the Scentris system (a multiple cantilever SPM). Also, the development of an alternative, cheap and convenient method of picking up the signal from polymer micro-cantilevers using an integrated strain gage also will be studied. This method should be affordable and easy to use, because the testing apparatus can be made small in size and not sensitive to environmental conditions. Optical sensing will be used as the control reference for the development.