Analysis of comb transducers with sliding teeth

Ultrasonic comb transducer generates surface acoustic waves on an elastic substrate by periodic traction exerted by its vibrating periodic teeth on the substrate surface. In this paper, the comb teeth are actually sliding elastic spacers between an acoustic buffer and the substrate. The incident wave in acoustic buffer scatters on periodic spacers producing interface waves in the system which transform into Rayleigh waves at the transducer edges. The full-wave theory of interface wave generation is presented, concluded by efficiency estimation of transformation of the incident wave into the surface wave in the substrate and of the surface waves back to bulk waves in the acoustic buffer. Numerical examples presented for all aluminum substrate, buffer and teeth show the 11-teeth comb combined efficiency for generation and detection on the level of −40 dB for optimized teeth height.