International Journal of Emerging Research in Engineering, Science, and Management
Vol. 5, Issue 1, pp. 77-85, Jan-Mar 2026.
https://doi.org/10.58482/ijeresm.v5i1.6

Received: 18 Dec 2025 | Revised: 03 Mar 2026 | Accepted: 09 Mar 2026 | Published: 21 Mar 2026

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Stress-Enhanced MEMS Trapezoidal Microcantilever Sensor for Enhanced Detection of Respiratory Syncytial Virus

Full Text PDF

*M. Lakshmi Prasanna

~Anitha V R

*Research Scholar, Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University Anantapur, Ananthapuramu, Andhra Pradesh, India.

~Professor, BMS Institute of Technology & Management, Bangalore, Karnataka, India.

Abstract: Early detection of disease-causing antigens plays a crucial role in preventive healthcare. Biosensors are devices that monitor and diagnose human health by converting biological interactions into measurable signals. In recent years, microcantilever-based biosensors have gained significant attention due to their high sensitivity, miniaturization capability, and rapid response characteristics. This paper focuses on detecting the RSV-G protein of Respiratory Syncytial Virus using a paddle-type trapezoidal microcantilever with different stress concentration regions. The cantilever is designed using SU-8 polymer material with a density of 1123 kg/m³, Young’s modulus of 5 GPa, and Poisson’s ratio of 0.22. The sensing mechanism is modeled in static mode, where antigen–antibody binding is represented as an equivalent surface-stress-induced loading condition in the finite element simulation. Comparative analysis of different SCR geometries shows that the rectangular SCR configuration yields a maximum displacement of 6.8 × 10⁻¹⁸ µm, demonstrating a nearly fourfold enhancement over the conventional design without an SCR. This improvement is attributed to localized stress concentration and reduction in effective structural stiffness under identical loading conditions. The results indicate that geometry-driven stress concentration significantly enhances the mechanical sensitivity of the microcantilever sensor and provides an effective approach to structural optimization for viral biosensing applications.

Keywords: Microcantilever biosensor, Stress concentration region, Surface stress modeling, RSV-G protein detection, MEMS-based sensor.

References: 

  1. L. Huang et al., “New insight into the epidemiological trends of respiratory syncytial virus infection and the underlying anti-respiratory syncytial virus mechanisms of andrographolide: integrating Global Burden of Disease database, network pharmacological analysis, and in vitro experiments,” Microbiology Spectrum, vol. 14, no. 1, p. e0234125, Nov. 2025, doi: 10.1128/spectrum.02341-25.
  2. C. Chartrand, N. Tremblay, C. Renaud, and J. Papenburg, “Diagnostic Accuracy of rapid antigen detection tests for respiratory syncytial virus infection: systematic review and meta-analysis,” Journal of Clinical Microbiology, vol. 53, no. 12, pp. 3738–3749, Sep. 2015, doi: 10.1128/jcm.01816-15.
  3. J. M. Caldwell, C. M. Espinosa, R. Banerjee, and J. B. Domachowske, “Rapid diagnosis of acute pediatric respiratory infections with Point-of-Care and multiplex molecular testing,” Infection, vol. 53, no. S1, pp. 1–14, May 2025, doi: 10.1007/s15010-025-02553-5.
  4. P. Mandal, V. Dhakane, A. Kulkarni and S. Tallur, “WELPCR: Low-cost polymerase chain reaction (PCR) thermal cycler for nucleic acid amplification and sensing,” 2024 IEEE Applied Sensing Conference (APSCON), Goa, India, 2024, pp. 1-4, doi: 10.1109/APSCON60364.2024.10465933.
  5. J. Lueke and W. A. Moussa, “MEMS-Based power generation techniques for implantable biosensing applications,” Sensors, vol. 11, no. 2, pp. 1433–1460, Jan. 2011, doi: 10.3390/s110201433.
  6. T. Neairat et al., “Development of a microcantilever-based biosensor for detecting Programmed Death Ligand 1,” Saudi Pharmaceutical Journal, vol. 32, no. 6, p. 102051, Mar. 2024, doi: 10.1016/j.jsps.2024.102051.
  7. L. C. Clark Jr., “Monitor and Control of Blood and Tissue Oxygen Tensions,” Transactions – American Society for Artificial Internal Organs, vol. 2, pp. 41–48, 1956.
  8. A. P. Garg and M. D. Joshi, “Applications of biosensors in bio-analysis,” in Elsevier eBooks, 2024, pp. 3–30. doi: 10.1016/b978-0-12-823829-5.00010-5.
  9. E. A. Gutierrez et al., “How to engineer glucose oxidase for mediated electron transfer,” Biotechnology and Bioengineering, vol. 115, no. 10, pp. 2405–2415, Jun. 2018, doi: 10.1002/bit.26785.
  10. W. Wu et al., “Chemometrics‐based signal processing methods for biosensors in health and environment: A review,” Electroanalysis, vol. 36, no. 7, Nov. 2023, doi: 10.1002/elan.202300207.
  11. H. H. Nguyen, S. H. Lee, U. J. Lee, C. D. Fermin, and M. Kim, “Immobilized enzymes in biosensor applications,” Materials, vol. 12, no. 1, p. 121, Jan. 2019, doi: 10.3390/ma12010121.
  12. P. Mehrotra, “Biosensors and their applications – A review,” Journal of Oral Biology and Craniofacial Research, vol. 6, no. 2, pp. 153–159, Jan. 2016, doi: 10.1016/j.jobcr.2015.12.002.
  13. A. M. Moulin, S. J. O’Shea, and M. E. Welland, “Microcantilever-based biosensors,” Ultramicroscopy, vol. 82, no. 1–4, pp. 23–31, Feb. 2000, doi: 10.1016/s0304-3991(99)00145-x.
  14. C. Ziegler, “Cantilever-based biosensors,” Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry, vol. 379, no. 7–8, pp. 946–59, Jul. 2004, doi: 10.1007/s00216-004-2694-y.
  15. R. J. Whelan, T. Wohland, L. Neumann, B. Huang, B. K. Kobilka, and R. N. Zare, “Analysis of biomolecular interactions using a miniaturized surface plasmon resonance sensor,” Analytical Chemistry, vol. 74, no. 17, pp. 4570–4576, Jul. 2002, doi: 10.1021/ac025669y.
  16. Mohd. Z. Ansari and C. Cho, “On accuracy of sensitivity relations for piezoresistive microcantilevers used in surface stress studies,” International Journal of Precision Engineering and Manufacturing, vol. 15, no. 10, pp. 2133–2140, Oct. 2014, doi: 10.1007/s12541-014-0573-9.
  17. P. G. Gopinath, V. R. Anitha and S. A. Mastani, “Design and simulation of high sensitive paddle microcantilever sensor for biosensing,” 2017 International Conference on Energy, Communication, Data Analytics and Soft Computing (ICECDS), Chennai, India, 2017, pp. 2907-2910, doi: 10.1109/ICECDS.2017.8389987.
  18. D. K. Parsediya, J. Singh, and P. K. Kankar, “Simulation and Analysis of Highly Sensitive MEMS Cantilever Designs for ‘in vivo Label Free’ Biosensing,” Procedia Technology, vol. 14, pp. 85–92, Jan. 2014, doi: 10.1016/j.protcy.2014.08.012.
  19. S. Khatun, R. Kundu, S. Islam, R. Aktary, and D. Kumar, “Sensitivity analysis on natural convective trapezoidal cavity containing hybrid nanofluid with magnetic effect: Numerical and statistical approach,” Heliyon, vol. 11, no. 1, p. e41508, Dec. 2024, doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e41508.
  20. S. Levine, “Polypeptides of respiratory syncytial virus,” Journal of Virology, vol. 21, no. 1, pp. 427–431, Jan. 1977, doi: 10.1128/jvi.21.1.427-431.1977.
Download PDF

This article is part of Volume 5, Issue 1 (Jan–Mar 2026)

© 2026 The Author(s). Published by IJERESM. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Archiving: All articles are permanently archived in Zenodo IJERESM Community.