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Project

Weakly coupled bulk acoustic wave microresonators based on mode localization for mass change sensing applications

MEMS (Micro-electro-mechanical-system) resonators have attracted much attention over the past decades, and have been widely used to sense small changes in the characteristics of the resonator, such as the stiffness and effective mass. Microresonators for the stiffness change sensing applications have been employed for strain sensors, pressure sensors, accelerometers and atomic force microscopy. Sensing devices that can detect the mass change, such as resonator mass sensors, have been proven to be a potential device for label-free sensing purpose for chemical and biological sensing applications. This thesis aims to introduce a novel structure, based on two weakly coupled bulk acoustic wave resonators (BAWR) with a rectangular or circular resonate plate. Because of the phenomenon of mode localization, the mode shapes change so that an output metric which is based on mode shape variations in a linear array of several coupled resonators can be utilized to sense a mass change of the resonator in this device. To investigate the mass sensitivity of the novel weakly coupled BAWR, it will be theoretically modelled, calculated, then simulated by FEM, and finally fabricated to make experiments. The mass sensitivity of the weakly coupled BAW resonator can be characterized and verified.

Date:11 Dec 2019 →  11 Dec 2023
Keywords:weakly coupled resonators, MEMS, bulk acoustic wave resonators, mode localization, mass change sensing
Disciplines:Sensors, biosensors and smart sensors not elsewhere classified
Project type:PhD project