A contour-mode film bulk acoustic resonator of high quality factor in a liquid environment for biosensing applications

Abstract

This letter reports an acoustic resonator of high quality factors (Qs) operating in liquid media. The film bulk acoustic resonator (FBAR) is made of a ring-shaped piezoelectric aluminum nitride thin film, and is excited in a contour mode. By having a low motional resistance upon coupling with liquids, the contour mode FBAR achieved Qs up to 189, more than 12× over the state-of-the-art FBARs in liquids. The resonator was characterized by an aptamer—thrombin binding pair for a biosensor and showed a mass resolution of 1.78 ng/cm2.