Characterization of the surface acoustic wave devices based on ZnO/nanocrystalline diamond structures

Nanocrystalline ZnO films with strong (0002) texture and fine grains were deposited onto ultra-nanocrystalline diamond (UNCD) layers on silicon using high target utilization sputtering technology. The unique characteristic of this sputtering technique allows room temperature growth of smooth ZnO films with a low roughness and low stress at high growth rates. Surface acoustic wave (SAW) devices were fabricated on ZnO/UNCD structure and exhibited good transmission signals with a low insertion loss and a strong side-lobe suppression for the Rayleigh mode SAW. Based on the optimization of the layered structure of the SAW device, a good performance with a coupling coefficient of 5.2% has been realized, promising for improving the microfluidic efficiency in droplet transportation comparing with that of the ZnO/Si SAW device. An optimized temperature coefficient of frequency of -23.4 ppm°C-1 was obtained for the SAW devices with the 2.72 μm-thick ZnO and 1.1 μm-thick UNCD film. Significant thermal effect due to the acoustic heating has been redcued which is related to the temperature stability of the ZnO/UNCD SAW device. © 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Experimental comparison of FBARs and SMRs responsitivities to mass loadings

The utilisation of thin film technology to develop film bulk acoustic resonators (FBARs) and solidly mounted resonators (SMRs), offers great potential to outperform the sensitivity and minimum detection limit of gravimetric sensors. Up to now, the choice between FBARs and SMRs depends primarily on the users' ability to design and fabricate Bragg reflectors and/or membranes, because neither of these two types of resonators has been demonstrated to be superior to the other. In the work reported here, it is shown that identically designed FBARs and SMRs resonating at the same frequency exhibit different responsitivities, Rm, to mass loadings, being the FBARs more responsive than the SMRs. For the specific device design and resonant frequency (∼2 GHz) of the resonators presented, FBARs' mass responsitivity is ∼20% greater than that of SMRs, and although this value should not be taken as universal for all possible device designs, it clearly indicates that FBAR devices should be favoured over SMRs in gravimetric sensing applications. © 2012 IEEE.

Surface acoustic waves in liquid helium for enhanced single-electron transport applications

High frequency Rayleigh and Sezawa modes propagating in the ZnO/GaAs system capable of operating immersed in liquid helium have been engineered. In the case of the Rayleigh mode, the strong attenuation produced by the liquid is counteracted by the strengthening of the mode induced by the ZnO. However, in the case of the Sezawa modes, the attenuation is strongly reduced taking advantage of the depth profile of their acoustic Poynting vectors, that extend deeper into the layered system, reducing the energy radiated into the fluid. Thus, both tailored modes will be suitable for acoustically-driven single-electron and single-photon devices in ZnO-coated GaAs-based systems with the best thermal stability provided by the liquid helium bath. © 2012 IEEE.

Enhancement of microfluidic efficiency with nanocrystalline diamond interlayer in the ZnO-based surface acoustic wave device

Ultra-smooth nanocrystalline diamond (UNCD) films with high-acoustic wave velocity were introduced into ZnO-based surface acoustic wave (SAW) devices to enhance their microfluidic efficiency by reducing the acoustic energy dissipation into the silicon substrate and improving the acoustic properties of the SAW devices. Microfluidic efficiency of the ZnO-based SAW devices with and without UNCD inter layers was investigated and compared. Results showed that the pumping velocities increase with the input power and those of the ZnO/UNCD/Si devices are much larger than those of the ZnO/Si devices at the same power. The jetting efficiency of the droplet was improved by introducing the UNCD interlayer into the ZnO/Si SAW device. Improvement in the microfluidic efficiency is mainly attributed to the diamond layer, which restrains the acoustic wave to propagate in the top layer rather than dissipating into the substrate. © 2013 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.

A single FBAR-based temperature and pressure sensors

A novel temperature and pressure sensor based on a single film bulk acoustic resonator (FBAR) is designed. This FBAR support two resonant modes, which response opposite to the change of temperature. By sealed the back cavity of a back-trench membrane type FBAR with silicon wafer, an on-chip single FBAR sensor suitable for measuring temperature and pressure simultaneously is proposed. For unsealed device, the experimental results show that the first resonant mode has a temperature coefficient of frequency (TCF) of 69.5ppm/K, and the TCF of the second mode is -8.1ppm/K. After sealed the back trench, it can be used as a pressure sensor, the pressure coefficient of frequency (PCF) for the two resonant mode is -17.4ppm/kPa and -6.1 ppm/kPa respectively, both of them being more sensitive than other existing pressure sensors. © 2013 Trans Tech Publications Ltd, Switzerland.

Reversible nanoscale switching of polytwin orientation in a ferroelectric thin film induced by a local electric field

The response to a local, tip-induced electric field of ferroelastic domains in thin polycrystalline lead zirconate titanate films with predominantly (110) orientation has been studied using Enhanced Piezoresponse Force Microscopy. Two types of reversible polytwin switching between well-defined orientations have been observed. When a-c domains are switched to other forms of a-c domains, the ferroelastic domain walls rotate in-plane by 109.5°, and when a-c domains are switched to c-c domains (or vice-versa), the walls rotate by 54.75°. © 2013 AIP Publishing LLC.

Label-free detection of human prostate-specific antigen (hPSA) using film bulk acoustic resonators (FBARs)

Label-free detection of cancer biomarkers using low cost biosensors has promising applications in clinical diagnostics. In this work, ZnO-based thin film bulk acoustic wave resonators (FBARs) with resonant frequency of ∼1.5 GHz and mass sensitivity of 0.015 mg/m2 (1.5 ng/cm2) have been fabricated for their deployment as biosensors. Mouse monoclonal antibody, anti-human prostate-specific antigen (Anti-hPSA) has been used to bind human prostate-specific antigen (hPSA), a model cancer used in this study. Ellipsometry was used to characterize and optimise the antibody adsorption and antigen binding on gold surface. It was found that the best amount of antibody at the gold surface for effective antigen binding is around 1 mg/m2, above or below which resulted in the reduced antigen binding due to either the limited binding sites (below 1 mg/m2) or increased steric effect (above 1 mg/m2). The FBAR data were in good agreement with the data obtained from ellipsometry. Antigen binding experiments using FBAR sensors demonstrated that FBARs have the capability to precisely detect antigen binding, thereby making FBARs an attractive low cost alternative to existing cancer diagnostic sensors. © 2013 Elsevier B.V.

Acoustic properties of carbon nanotube electrodes in BAW resonators

In this paper the acoustic characterization of a layer of carbon nanotubes (CNT) deposited on AlN solidly mounted resonators is described. The structure of the CNT layer is analyzed by scanning electron microscopy and Raman spectroscopy. The electrical sheet resistance is derived from 4 point probe measurements and from the fitting of the electrical response of the resonators. Values of sheet resistance around 100 Ω/□ are measured. The longitudinal acoustic velocity is derived from the fitting of the electrical response of the resonators using Mason's model, by adjusting the overtones produced in the CNT layer. A mean value of 62000 m·s-1 is obtained, although some devices show values around 90000 m·s -1, close to the theoretical value of 100000 m·s-1. Some results on the deposition of CNT layers on metallic top electrodes and their influence on the performance of the resonator are also presented. © 2013 IEEE.