Surface Acoustic Wave Sensors (SAWS): Design for Application

In the modern world, almost all electromechanical systems use sensors to acquire pertinent information from the environment during operation or to operate more effectively. In many of these applications, there is demand for increased performance along with decreased size and cost of sensor technology. Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) are an attractive option to fill this demand due to the small resolution of feature sizes (≈ 1μm) and the ease of mass-production due to compliance with standard microfabrication processes. Within MEMS, surface acoustic wave sensors (SAWS) offer a particularly interesting sensor option due to the wide variety of measurable phenomena—from temperature to biological agents to magnetic field strength—and potential applications—ranging from individual sensors with additional packaging to large-scale, distributed sensor networks. In this paper, we shall explore the design process of a surface acoustic wave sensor both to gain understanding of the range of the design space of surface acoustic wave devices and how to design a SAWS with selected properties for use in a chosen application.