SAW SENSORS FOR D IRECT AND R EMOTE MEASUREMENT

W. Buff*
Technische Universität Ilmenau
senTec Elektronik Ilmenau

Abstract – SAW devices have been for using SAW devices as sensors already
proofed to be suitable not only for signal in the seventies of the last century /1/, /2/,
processing but also for sensor aims. /3/. Even though there is a lot of research
Beginning with the early seventies of the done (and corresponding to that numerous
last century, SAW sensors are under publications as well), one can not observe
discussion for several decades. The a high volume production and a mass
physical effect of a change of the elastic application. Because of the simplicity in
constants of the substrate material or a production (only one photolithography)
change in the mass loading under the SAW sensors would be dedicated for mass
influence of changing conditions in the production. But there is no broad
environment lead to a change in the application. At the present time the
phase velocity of the surface acoustic development in the sensor market is
wave and commonly to a frequency shift mainly driven by the automotive field, the
in SAW devices. Numerous solutions for medicine technology and the environment
sensors and sensor systems are based on protection. SAW sensors can contribute in
this effect. However, there is not to see a this regions. Beside the capability for a
mass application of SAW sensors up to high volume production they have unique
now. On the other hand SAW sensors possibilities for sensor solution which are
have some features that allows to create not achievable by using conventional
unique sensor systems for measurements concepts.
which are not possible otherwise. SAW sensors have some special features
The paper will discuss some aspect of which distinguish them from other kinds of
the today’s status from the point of view sensors. They are very small in size with a
of practical application. minimal volume of substrate. So they can
react very fast on changes in the
I. INTRODUCTION environmental conditions. The small
dimensions make it possible get a signal
Electronic elements working with surface even when only a very small amount of the
acoustic waves (SAW) have been success- material under investigation is available.
fully used in electronic circuitries for Most SAW sensors have a frequency shift
several decades. Such elements as filters as the output signal. This makes the
and resonators have to be stable in their accuracy of the senor signal independent
properties under changing environmental on stochastic variations in the amplitude.
conditions. But it is well known that SAW Furthermore the frequency can be resolved
elements react on the change in operation over several order of magnitudes and this
conditions (such as temperature, mass results in a high sensitivity and a high
loading or mechanical stress) by changing accuracy. The sensor signal can often be
both the amplitude and the frequency. directly transmitted to a computer because
Producers of SAW devices for signal of its quasi digital character. Moreover the
processing try to fight against this SAW will be not influenced by magnetic
behaviour. However, while investigating fields. This makes them suitable for
the physical properties came up the idea measurements near conductors for high
 electric field lines
currents or fast alternating currents where
other methods fail.
A big advantage is that SAW sensors are propagation

operating at high frequencies. This makes direction

the electronic circuitry relatively easy and

allows to transfer the signal over short pene-
tration
distances by using capacitive or inductive depth
≈≈ 1λλ

connectors. The most important aspect of

the high frequency mode of operation is
the possibility of using a radio trans- Figure 2: Shear mode wave
mission over several meters and to make
the sensor itself passive. In any case interdigital transducers are
used for excitation of the wave and for
II. S URFACE ACOUSTIC WAVES AND receiving it. Interdigital transducers are
DEVICES overlapping metallic finger structures
which are performed by a photolitho-
The mostly used type of surface acoustic graphic process. There are two main types
waves is the Rayleigh mode wave with an of devices which are used as signal
elliptical displacement of the particles in processing devices and as sensors as well.
the plane perpendicular to the surface in A delay line (figure 3) consist of two
propagation direction. This type is also interdigital transducers and a space in
used in SAW devices for signal processing. between. In many types of sensors this
In the sensor field the Rayleigh mode is space is covered by a special coating that
suitable for gas sensors but not for liquids. react with the material to be measured. The
In liquids occurs a radiation of energy into other type is a resonator (figure 4). One or
the liquid and thus a strong attenuation of two interdigital transducers are placed
the wave. In this case are waves used with between two reflectors forming a standing
a horizontal polarisation with a particle wave which leads to a resonant behaviour.
displacement perpendicular to the Such devices are used as sensors when the
propagation direction. This concerns whole substrate takes part in the operation
skimming bulk waves, leaky waves shear of the sensor (temperature sensor, pressure
horizontal polarized acoustic plate modes sensor) or when the surface is influenced
and Love modes/4//5/. by using a coating material and a mass
Even the detection of ice is possible by loading occurs because of the adsorption or
using Love mode waves/6/. absorption of the material to be measured.
electric field lines

SAW
input output
propagation
direction

pene-
tration
depth
≈≈ 1λλ

Figure 3: Delay line

Figure 1: Rayleigh mode wave

 reference device. It is dedicated to probe
the concentration of numerous toxic and
non-toxic gases. Figure 6 shows the
principle of operation.

Figure 4: One port resonator

Whatever the influence on the SAW device

is it turns out in a change of the phase
velocity and consequently in a shift of the
frequency the device is working at (figure
5). Figure 6: Principle of operation
(courtesy of Bürkert)

Environmental Influence: As today’s electronics commonly consist

Temperature of a hardware part and the software the
Force Physical Reaction of the Solid:
Electrical Field Stiffness
final result will be calculated from this 8
Pressure Conductivity different sensors outputs. Figure 7 shows
Mass Density
Dielectric Constant the sensor head with the 8 SAW sensors
and the reference element (with lid).

Reaction of the SAW: Phase Velocity

Phase Frequency Delay

Measured Quantities

Figure 5: Influence on SAW sensors

III D IRECT COUPLING INTO THE CIRCUIT Figure 7: Sensing head (courtesy of
Bürkert)
More than by other sensor concepts, the
electronic circuitry for a readout is at least In the particular case of SAGAS the
as important as the sensor itself. In the electronic circuitry uses oscillators with
simplest case, the sensor is connected to SAW resonators being the frequency
the electronic circuitry by wires. determining part of the oscillators. The
In the beginning of the eighties of the last whole circuitry operates in a multiplex
century such systems were first used for regime. The producer declare that the time
gas sensing /7/. of service is 0,5-1 year (depending on the
An example for that is the commercial coating) and the limits of detection are a
available gas sensing system SAGAS or few ppm of organic gas concentration.
GASYS respectively developed by the It is also possible to use the anisotropic
Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe and behaviour of crystalline quartz and a Pd
produced by the company Bürkert /8//9/. film as sensing membrane. In this case one
This system consist of 8 sensors with can measure gas concentrations of different
different polymer coatings and one
organic gases in a mixture and the
humidity by using delay lines/10/.

IV CAPACITIVE COUPLING

One of the exceptional advantages of the

SAW sensor concept is the operation at
high frequencies. This allows a wireless
coupling of the sensor signal which is
important especially for measurements on
rotating ore moving parts. One example for
the usage of capacitive coupling is a torque
sensor developed and produced by the
company Transense Technologies /11//12/. Figure: 9 A prototype of the torque sensor
The basic construction is a metallic shaft for a steering system (courtesy of
on which are two resonators fixed. They Transense)
are in a rectangular position to each other
and so the strain will be measured in two A second example is a temperature
directions. The difference signal contents measurement system developed by the
the actual strain to be determined. The company senTec Elektronik Ilmenau. This
coupling to the interrogation unit is system is dedicated to measure the
performed by a capacitive coupling temperature in a very fast rotating axis
element (figure 8). (36000 rotations per minute). In order to
avoid too high centrifugal forces only the
very small and light SAW resonator is
places inside the axis and the electrical
connection to the outside electronic
circuitry is performed by using a capacitive
coupling element (Figure 10). As our
experiments showed, the resonator is not
influenced by the very high rotational
speed.
Oil
End of the axis
Figure: 8 Cross-sections of the cylindrical
(a) and planar (b) rotational couplers and
U1
their equivalent circuit (c) at zero angle of
rotation (courtesy of Transense)
Sensor
Stator

Such types of sensors are dedicated to

measure torque on driveshafts and Figure 10: Capacitive coupling of a SAW
crankshafts of engines in order to control temperature sensor
the power transmission and engine
operation. Furthermore torque sensors are Not only a capacity can serve as a
also needed for electrical power assisted connecting element but also an inductor is
steering systems. Figure 9 shows a suitable for that. However, our experiment
prototype of a torque sensor for the showed that a capacitive coupling is easier
determination of the steering angel. to perform.
 V REMOTE MEASUREMENT interrogation method which is based on a
frequency measurement and not on the
Due to the high operational frequency amplitude which avoid some sources of
(today’s SAW elements are working in a error.
frequency range from 10 MHz up to 2.5 When the interdigital transducer of a
GHz) and the high dynamic range for the resonator (see fig.4) is connected to an
excitation of surface acoustic waves it is antenna a burst signal can excite the
possible to transfer energy to a SAW resonator to oscillations. The frequency
devices by using an RF signal. A SAW inside the burst has to be close to the
device connected to an antenna can operate resonance frequency of the resonator. The
even the energy received is very small. resonator will oscillate in a attenuated
Moreover, the device can respond to the oscillation after the interrogation signal is
received signal by transferring a very low switched off. Figure 11 illustrates the
but anyway well detectable signal. While situation.
propagating along the surface the SAW is
exposed to the influence of the environ-
ment and hence the responded signal
contains information about the environ-
ment of the sensor. The main advantage of
such a wireless sensor system is that it is
completely passive without the necessity of
a power supply for the sensor itself. So the
sensor can be placed at bad accessible
places, at moving or rotating parts or at
places were it is not possible to measure
otherwise (e. g. under high temperature
conditions, vacuum etc.).
There are two main principles of operating. Figure: 11 Interrogation signal and
One of the possibilities is to use a device attenuated oscillation (at the top), mixed
with one interdigital transducer and signal (beneath), switching signal (bottom)
reflectors /13/. The interdigital transducer
is connected to an antenna and can receive The operational principle is based on the
the interrogation signal (pulse). The SAW storage behaviour of a resonator. The
excited by the interdigital transducer resonator store the energy during the
propagates along the surface of the attenuated oscillation after excitement and
piezoelectric substrate (e. g. quartz) and is gives it as oscillation back to the
reflected by the reflectors travelling back interrogation unit via the antenna. In this
to the interdigital transducer. The reflected time the resonator oscillate on the actual
signal is reconverted in an electrical signal own resonance frequency (eigenfrequency)
by the interdigital transducer and which is influenced by the environment
transferred back to the interrogation unit. and thus containing an information about
The delay time between the transferred and the quantity to be measured.
the received interrogation signal contains In order to avoid the problems we saw in
the information about the physical quantity the case of determining the resonance
to be measured. frequency by using a method with stepping
The other principle of operating is the through the expected frequency range and
usage of SAW resonators instead of the measuring the maximum amplitude we
reflecting delay line/14//15/. Resonators now use a new approach. The RF response
have lower losses while be interrogated signal is mixed with a signal from a local
and therefore a longer distance of oscillator and converted in a frequency
operating. Furthermore they allow an scale by using a Fourier transformation.
 S11 Log MAG 5 dB / REF -10 dB
The mixed signal is shown in figure 11 in Distance = 15 cm: 1_: -23.68 dB,
the middle. The calculation of the result as SCALE 5 dB/div 432.662 MHz
well as the controlling of the whole
2
interrogation unit is performed by a micro 1

controller. Figure 12 shows a rough block

diagram of the electronic circuitry (which Attenuation
is rather complicated).
1

Frequency
2

Distance = 10 cm: 1_: -32.898 dB, 432.723

750 MHz
2_: -42.379 dB, 434.175
CENTER 433.500 000 SPAN 2.500 000

Figure 12: Interrogation unit (block Figure 14: Centre frequency and
diagram) attenuation of the S11-parameter for a
double SAWR for two antenna distances
Experimental measurements with a single (10 cm, 15 cm).
SAW resonator in a telemetry system
showed a high radio channel influence on An example for the practical application of
the resonance frequency in this network. such a system is temperature measurement
To minimize this unwanted influence a equipment for rotational moulding of
difference measurement method with two plastics. The method of rotational
connected SAW resonators has been moulding is performed in huge furnaces
chosen (see figure 14). and by using big metallic moulds with an
completely irregular movement in the
SAW-Resonator 1 furnace. Figure 15 shows a metallic mould
matching interrogation
network
cable radio channel
unit
for manufacturing plastic parts in
SAW-Resonator 2
dimensions of meters. Figure 16 shows a
antenna antenna
mould with the senor on it.
Figure 14 : Double resonator sensor

The main advantage of this equipment is a

stable RF link with almost no influence of
the distance between the two antennas.
The difference frequency can better serve
as sensor signal as in a single resonator
sensor. This is in particular important for
measurements on moving parts.
Figure 15 shows the centre frequency and
attenuation behaviour of the S11-parameter
for a double SAW resonator system (with
the both resonator centre frequencies f01 = Sensor
432.7 MHz and f02 = 434.1 MHz) for two
different antenna distances (10 cm, 15
cm). Figure 16: Machine for rotational
moulding outside the furnace
The RF link was performed through the This condition meets the so called ‘L-
hole for the axis in furnace (figure 17). Matching Network’. The principle circuitry
of the complete sensor is shown in
figure18.

L1
Resonator 1

L2
Resonator 2
∆f
Antenna Ccom + ∆C
.

Figure 17: The antenna can “see” the Figure 18: Principle circuitry of the sensor
sensor inside the furnace
The capacity ∆C represents a capacitive
We could show that a temperature sensor which shift the frequency of the
measurement is possible with a sufficient whole equipment (figure 19).
accuracy (about 1%).
S11 LOG 5 dB / REF – 15
dB
VI HYBRID SENSORS

During our measurements we were forced

to match our sensors to the antenna by
using a matching network that consists of a
capacity and an inductor. This is necessary
in order to minimize lost of energy caused
by reflections at mismatched parts while
interrogated. However, the matching
network itself influences the output
frequency of the sensor system. This
experience ended up with the idea to use
the double resonator sensor only as a
transponder for the signal derived from
capacitive or inductive sensors /16/. In this
way the resonators can be produced in a START 433.050 000 STOP 434.790 000
conventional manner with a well protecting
housing and the sensing element can ideal Figure 19: Measured frequency shift by
adapted to the special measurement task. varying the capacitance ∆C
Concerning the separation of transmitter
and sensing element both of them can be In the same way as in the case of the
optimised separately. Once again, two double resonator arrangement before
SAW resonators are used in order to mentioned, the difference frequency
reduce several external disturbing contains the information given by the
influences on the radio channel. sensor.
Figure 18 shows the simple circuitry used The hybrid concept is the key for opening
as matching network. The matching possibilities to place sensors for remote
network should be as minimal as possible. interrogation under conditions which do
not allow a remote sensing by using Symposium, pp 421-424
conventional active transponder systems(e. /6/ M.J.Vellekoop, B.Jakoby,
g. under high temperature conditions). J.Bastemeijer
A Love-Wave Ice Detector
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Symposium, pp 453-456
SAW based sensors has been proofed to be /7/ A. Bryant, D.L.Lee, J.F.Vetelino
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The high frequency operation together with New miniaturized SAW-sensor array
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concepts for using them as passive sensors multiplexed oscillators
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solutions fail. Theory and Techniques, Vol. 49, No. 4,
2001, pp 827- 837
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