Improving Sensitivity of SAW-based Pressure Sensor with Metal Ground Shielding over Cavity

This paper presents the fabrication of surface acoustic wave (SAW)-based pressure sensor for long-term stable mechanical compression force measurement. SAW pressure sensor has many attractive features for practical pressure measurement: no battery requirement, wireless pressure detection especially at hazardous environments, and easy other functionality integrations such as temperature, humidity, and RFID. A $41^{\circ}$ YX $LiNbO_3$ piezoelectric substrate was used because of its high SAW propagation velocity and large values of electromechanical coupling factors $K^2$. A silicon substrate with $\~200{\mu}m$ deep cavity was bonded to the diaphragm with epoxy, in which gold was covered all over the inner cavity in order to confine electromagnetic energy inside the sensor, and provide good isolation of the device from its environment. The reflection coefficient $S_{11}$ was measured using network analyzer. High S/N ratio, sharp reflected peaks, and clear separation between the peaks were observed. As a mechanical compression force was applied to the diaphragm from top with extremely sharp object, the diaphragm was bended, resulting in the phase shifts of the reflected peaks. The phase shifts were modulated depending on the amount of applied mechanical compression force. The measured $S_{11}$ results showed a good agreement with simulated results obtained from equivalent admittance circuit modeling.