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Surface acoustic wave (SAW) excitation of an acoustic field in a trapezoidal glass microfluidic channel for particle manipulation in continuous flow has been demonstrated. A unidirectional interdigital transducer (IDT) on a Y-cut Z-propagation lithium niobate (LiNbO3) substrate was used to excite a surface acoustic wave at approximately 35 MHz. An SU8 layer was used for adhesive bonding of the superstrate glass layer and the substrate piezoelectric layer. This work extends the use of SAWs for acoustic manipulation to also include glass channels in addition to prior work with mainly poly-di-methyl-siloxane channels. Efficient alignment of 1.9 mu m polystyrene particles to narrow nodal regions was successfully demonstrated. In addition, particle alignment with only one IDT active was realized. A finite element method simulation was used to visualize the acoustic field generated in the channel and the possibility of 2D alignment into small nodal regions was demonstrated.

A shear mode AlN solidly mounted resonator (SMR) microfluidic sensor system was fabricated and characterized. The AlN SMR fabrication process is fully IC compatible and uses reactive sputtering to deposit piezoelectric AlN thin films with a non-zero mean inclination of the c-axis, which allows in-liquid operation through the excitation of the shear mode. Silicone encapsulation bonded on top of the Si sensor chip includes a microfluidic system to transport the analyte and confine the flow to the active area of the sensor chip. The sensor operation in air, water, glycerol and acetone was characterized. The resonator had a resonance frequency of around 1.2 GHz and a Q value in water of around 100. Results concerning the stability and resolution are also presented. The results indicate a potential of highly sensitive low-cost microfluidic sensor systems for applications in, e.g. point-of-care testing., WISENET

This letter discusses the design of thickness shear mode thin-film bulk acoustic resonator (FBAR) sensor array for in liquid operation with respect to minimizing the observed Q-degradation and crosstalk., Electronically published since May 11, 2010, WISENET

Particle manipulation utilizing interface acoustic waves (IAWs) is proposed for the first time. An IAW-based manipulation system has been designed, micromachined and tested. This work addresses the issue of particle manipulation in microfluidic channels with particular emphasis on particles with submicron dimensions. The subject is of significant relevance for a range of bio-technological applications and in particular for lab-on-chip ones. Submicron particle manipulation in continuous flow has been demonstrated., VR Granted "Thin Film Guided Microacoustic Waves: Theory and Appliactions"

WISENET

The work in question addresses the issue of continuous flow particle manipulation in liquid media with particularemphasis on particles with micron and sub-micron dimensions.The subject is of significant relevance for a range of biotechnological applications and in particular for lab-on-chip ones.Particle manipulation utilizing Interface Acoustic Waves (IAW)is proposed for the first time. Manipulation of submicron sized particles is successfully demonstrated in a streaming free regime., In Print, VR granted: "Thin Film Guided Microacoustic Waves in Periodical Systems: Theory and Applications"

For use in thin film electroacoustic (TEA) technology a few hundred nanometrethick nickel silicide (NiSi) electrode would need to be fabricated. A complete fabrication process for the formation of over 200 nm thick silicide films has been optimised for use as an electroacoustic electrode. Optimisation of silicidation temperature and identification of the mono phase of silicide is demonstrated. Thick electrodes are formed by depositing multilayers of silicon and nickel pairs onto silicon (Si) substrates before rapid thermal annealing. The numbers of multilayers and relative material thicknesses are optimized for both surface roughness and electrical resistivity. The growth of textured aluminium nitride (AlN) has been investigated on the optimised surfaces., SSF ICTEA, WISENET

A new design of a solidly mounted resonator (SMR) that utilizes an all-metal Bragg reflector eliminating thus the need for a bottom electrode is proposed. In this configuration, the role of the bottom electrode is taken by the Bragg reflector rendering the resonator “combined electrode-Bragg reflector SMR”. The main advantages of the proposed design are the substantially reduced electrode resistance (and hence higher Q), the utilization of the full piezoelectric coupling at high frequencies as well as expected improvement in power handling capabilities due to lower dissipation and improved heat conductivity. Resonators with the classical and the new design have been fabricated and evaluated. The measurements indicate that indeed the resonators with the new design demonstrate improved performance., WISENET, ICTEA (SSF)

SSF-ICTEA, WISENET

A 2 GHz oscillator based on a solidly mounted AlN thin-film bulk acoustic resonator (TFBAR) is reported. The oscillator is realised as a silicon-on-silicon multi-chip module (MCM) where all passive elements, including the TFBAR, are monolithically integrated on a high-resistivity silicon (HRS) carrier. SiGe transistors are flip-chip mounted on the MCM carrier. Measurements of the oscillators reveal a best phase-noise of -125 dBc/Hz at 100 kHz offset.

WISENET

Highly c-oriented aluminum nitride (AlN) thin piezoelectric films have been grown by pulsed direct-current (DC) magnetron reactive sputter deposition. The films were deposited at room temperature and had a typical full width half maximum (FWHM) value of the (0 0 2) rocking curve of around 2°. Resonant devices in thin film plates having surface acoustic wave (SAW) based designs were fabricated by means of low resolution photolithography. The devices were designed to operate with the fast Rayleigh and Lamb modes respectively. Both types of devices exhibited propagation velocities in excess of 10 000 m/s and sufficient electromechanical couplings. The device measurements illustrate the big potential of these modes for the development of low cost IC compatible electroacoustic devices in the lower GHz range. The basic properties of the modes studied are discussed in a comparative manner. Potential commercial applications are also outlined.

Semiconducting boron doped single-crystal CVD diamond has been patterned using aluminum masks and an inductively coupled plasma (ICP) etch system. For comparison insulating HPHT diamond samples were also patterned using the same process. Diamond etch rates above 200 nm/min were obtained with an O2/Ar discharge for a gas pressure of 2.5 mTorr using 600 W RF power. We have accomplished the fabrication of structures with a minimum feature size of 1 μm with vertical sidewalls in both CVD and HPHT diamond. The ICP etching produced smooth surfaces with a typical root-mean-square surface roughness of 3 nm. The dependence of etch rate on bias voltage was somewhat different for the two types of diamond. However, for all samples both the etch rate and anisotropy were found to improve with increasing bias voltage.