Acoustic mode behavior in Lateral Field Excited sensors

Lateral Field Excited (LFE) sensors have been shown to have several very attractive features, the most important of which is a bare sensing surface. In contrast to the standard Quartz Crystal Monitor (QCM), the LFE sensor surface allows one to sensitively monitor both mechanical and electrical property changes in adjacent media or analyte selective biological or chemical films. Although LFE sensors have been shown to function very efficiently in liquid media, LFE sensor operation in gaseous environments has been plagued by spurious mode responses. It is the purpose of this work to study electrode dimensions, sensor curvature, and surface etching in order to minimize the spurious mode behavior found in LFE Quartz and Lithium Tantalate (LTO) gas sensors.