US Patent 7388200 - Nanobiosensor with residence time measurement

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7388200.html

This patent from Hewlett Packard teaches tailoring the absorption and desorption characteristics of a nanosensor in order to use the amount of time in which a chemical resides in the nanosensor to characterize the chemical. Claim 18 reads:

18. A nanosensing system, comprising at least one nano-transducer having a controlled surface, the nano-transducer being configured to transduce adsorption and desorption of at least one species to a measurable signal as a function of time, wherein the adsorption and desorption each define an individual measurable event and wherein a residence time of the at least one species adsorbed on the nano-transducer is extractable from the measurable signals.