Quartz Crystal Microbalance (QCM) / Dissipation (QCM-D) Technology

Quartz Crystal Microbalance, QCM, and extended versions, such as Quartz Crystal Microbalance with Dissipation monitoring, QCM-D, are surface sensitive, real-time technologies that detect mass changes at the sensor surface with nanoscale resolution. The basic principle of QCM is the piezoelectric effect of quartz crystal. Owing to the high sensitivity and low cost, QCM, serving as a micro mass sensor, can detect the variation of the mass of trace substances in the range of nanograms. Therefore, QCM has been extensively used in the fields of chemistry, physics, surface science, most importantly in biology and medicine. The QCM technique has developed as an extensively bioanalytical approach for monitoring adsorption, intermolecular interactions, intelligent biomaterials analysis, and so forth.