Multichannel shear horizontal surface acoustic wave microsensor for liquid characterization

Abstract

Surface Acoustic wave (SAW) with a shear horizontal polarized displacement (SH-SAW) can detect mechanical and electrical properties of an adjacent liquid. The objective of this paper is to propose a new multichannel SH-SAW microsensor for liquid characterization. The SH-SAW microsensor, which is fabricated on 36/spl deg/ rotated Y-cut X-propagating LiTaO/sub 3/, consists of three SAW delay lines. Propagating surfaces of two delay lines are metallized and electrically shorted, and the other one has a free surface for working as an electrically active area. The viscosity, conductivity, and permittivity of liquid are simultaneously obtained by using the multichannel SH-SAW microsensor.