The simplest micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) that can be easily machined and mass-produced via the same techniques used to make computer chips. The ability to detect extremely small displacements make nanocantilever beams an ideal device for detecting extremely small forces, stresses and masses. Nanocantilevers coated with antibodies, for example, will bend from the mass added when substrate binds to its antibody, providing a detector capable of sensing the presence of single molecules of clinical importance.

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