Dissanayake D.W. (ed.) Acoustic Waves

InTech, 2010, -478 p.Surface Acoustic Wave (SAW) devices are widely used in multitude of device concepts mainly in Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS) and communication electronics. As such, SAW based micro-sensors, actuators and communication electronic devices are well known applications of SAW technology. Due to their solid state design and fabrication compatible with other modern technologies such as Microwave Integrated Circuits (MIC), MEMS, (Charge Coupled Devices) CCD and integrated optic devices, SAW based sensors are considered to be extremely reliable. For example, SAW based passive micro sensors are capable of measuring physical properties such as temperature, pressure, variation in chemical properties, and SAW based communication devices perform a range of signal processing functions, such as delay lines, filters, resonators, pulse compressors, and convolvers. In recent decades, SAW based low-powered actuators and microfluidic devices have significantly contributed towards their popularity.
SAW devices are based on propagation of acoustic waves in elastic solids and the coupling of these waves to electric charge signals via an input and an output Inter Digital Transducers (IDT) that are deposited on the piezoelectric substrate. Since the introduction of the first SAW devices in the 1960s, this flexibility has facilitated a great level of creativity in the design of different types of devices, which has resulted in low cost mass production alongside with modern electronic, biomedical and similar systems.
In recent times, SAW devices have become an indispensable part of the modern electronic communication industry due to their usefulness as IF, RF, and GPS filters for various applications. Over the years, SAW devices are known to offer superior performance in communication due to a range of factors such as high stability, excellent aging properties, low insertion attenuation, high stopband rejection and processing gain, and narrow transition width from passband to the stopband. Therefore, it is evident that SAW based wireless communication is a well-established fi eld in RF–MEMS and Bio–MEMS devices, and has a great potential to incorporate with modern biosensors, micro actuators and biological implants. Furthermore, passive SAW sensors can be RF controlled wirelessly through a transceiver unit over distances of several meters, without the need of a battery. Hence, such devices are well suited for use in a wide range of sensor and identification systems. This book consists of 20 exciting chapters composed by researchers and engineers active in the field of SAW technology, biomedical and other related engineering disciplines. The topics range from basic SAW theory, materials and phenomena to advanced applications such as sensors actuators, and communication systems. As such, fi rst part of this book is dedicated to several chapters that present the theoretical analysis and numerical modeling such as Finite Element Modeling (FEM) and Finite Difference Methods (FDM) of SAW devices. Then, some exciting research contributions in SAW based actuators and micro motors are presented in part two of this book. In part three, a fruitful collection of research outcomes that are based on SAW sensing applications are presented.
We are excited that this collection of up-to-date information and research outcomes on SAW technology will be of great interest, not only to all those working in SAW based technology, but also to many more who stand to benefit from an insight into the rich opportunities that this technology has to offer, especially to develop advanced, low-powered biomedical implants and passive communication devices.The Eigen Theory of Waves in Piezoelectric Solids
Reverberation-Ray Matrix Analysis of Acoustic Waves in Multilayered Anisotropic Structures
Rectifying Acoustic Waves
Dispersion Properties of Co-Existing Low Frequency Modes in Quantum Plasmas
Research of the Scattering of Non-linearly Interacting Plane Acoustic Waves by an Elongated Spheroid
Acoustic Waves in Phononic Crystal Plates
Frequency-Domain Numerical Modeling of Visco-Acoustic Waves with Finite-Difference and Finite-Element Discontinuous Galerkin Methods
Shear Elastic Wave Refraction on a Gap between Piezoelectric Crystals with Uniform Relative Motion
Surface Acoustic Wave Based Wireless MEMS Actuators for Biomedical Applications
Surface Acoustic Wave Motors and Actuators: Mechanism, Structure, Characteristic and Application
Real Time Methods for Wideband Data Processing Based on Surface Acoustic Waves
Aluminium Nitride thin Film Acoustic Wave Device for Microfl uidic and Biosensing Applications
Application and Exploration of Fast Gas Chromatography - Surface
Acoustic Wave Sensor to the Analysis of Thymus Species
Application of Acoustic Waves to Investigate the Physical Properties of Liquids at High Pressure
Pressure and Temperature Microsensor Based on Surface Acoustic Wave in TPMS
Analysis and Modeling of Surface Acoustic Wave
Chemical Vapour Sensors
Laser-Based Determination of Decohesion and Fracture Strength of Interfaces and Solids by Nonlinear Stress Pulses
Ultrasonics: A Technique of Material Characterization
Dissipation of Acoustic Waves in Barium Monochalcogenides
Statistical Errors in Remote Passive Wireless SAW Sensing Employing Phase Differences