Advances in Electromagnetic Piezoelectric Acoustic Sensor Technology for Biosensor-Based Detection

The ultra-high frequency EMPAS (electromagnetic piezoelectric acoustic sensor) device is composed of an electrode-less quartz disc in which shear oscillation is induced by an AC-powered magnetic coil located 30 μm below the substrate. This configuration allows the instigation of high acoustic harmonics (in the region of 49th–53rd), with the resulting enhanced analytical sensitivity for biosensor purposes compared to the conventional thickness-shear mode device. In this paper, we introduce significant improvements to the operation of the system with respect to sensing applications. This includes a new interface program and the capability to measure the acoustic quality factor not available in the prototype version. The enhanced configuration is subject to testing through biosensor detection of surface adsorption of biological macromolecules, which include β-casein, and a gelsolin-actin complex.

Study of the Torsional Effect of a Rectangular Quartz Disc

The torsional effect of a rectangular piezoelectric quartz is studied in the article. Using the anisotropic elasticity and Maxwell electromagnetic theory, the stress field and electrostatic field is founded, and then by the Finite Element Method the distribution of the electric field in the piezoelectric body is obtained. Based on theoretical analysis of the bound charge distribution, the measuring electrodes are effectively disposed on the surfaces of the piezoelectric wafers. The theoretical and experimental results show that the measurement charge is linear with the torque. The research will provide the basis for the torque measuring technique.