quartz crystal microbalance

A quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) is a sensitive device that measures tiny changes in mass on a surface by detecting shifts in the resonance frequency of a quartz crystal. When molecules or particles stick to the crystal's surface, its frequency decreases slightly. By monitoring these frequency shifts, QCM can determine how much material has been added or removed. It’s widely used in scientific research and industrial applications to study thin films, biological interactions, and surface processes with high precision, offering real-time, label-free measurement of minute mass changes down to nanogram levels.