Optimized SAW chemical sensor with microfluidic packaging

Author

Brocato, Robert W. ; Brocato, Terisse A. ; Wendt, Joel R. ; Sanchez, Carlos A. ; Stotts, Larry G.

Author_Institution

Sandia Nat. Labs., Albuquerque, NM, USA

fYear

2012

fDate

May 29 2012-June 1 2012

Firstpage

936

Lastpage

941

Abstract

Surface acoustic wave (SAW) devices are used as sensing elements in the best performing portable chemical detectors. The SAW device, with a selectively absorbing chemical coating, serves as a mass sensor which preferentially responds to various chemical exposures. To obtain the highest performance, a number of criteria must be optimized, including SAW microwave insertion loss, impedance matching, electrode design configuration, RF shielding, chemically absorbent coating area, electronic measurement approach, and microfluidic packaging. A properly optimized system can be sensitive to chemical exposures the parts-per-trillion range. We report on a design optimization approach consisting of multiple comparison experiments made with competing designs.

Keywords

chemical sensors; electrodes; electromagnetic shielding; microfluidics; microsensors; packaging; surface acoustic wave sensors; RF shielding; SAW microwave insertion loss; chemical exposure; chemically absorbent coating area; electrode design configuration; electronic measurement; impedance matching; mass sensor; microfluidic packaging; optimized SAW chemical sensor; selectively absorbing chemical coating; surface acoustic wave devices; Chemicals; Coatings; Detectors; Frequency measurement; Insertion loss; Surface acoustic wave devices; Surface acoustic waves; RF packaging; microfluidic; sensors; surface acoustic wave;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Electronic Components and Technology Conference (ECTC), 2012 IEEE 62nd

Conference_Location

San Diego, CA

ISSN

0569-5503

Print_ISBN

978-1-4673-1966-9

Electronic_ISBN

0569-5503

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/ECTC.2012.6248948

Filename

6248948