Comparative performance of piezoceramic and crystal SAW filters

Development of Novel Piezoelectric Biosensor Using PZT Ceramic Resonator for Detection of Cancer Markers

A novel biosensor based on piezoelectric ceramic resonator was developed for direct detection of cancer markers in the study. For the first time, a commercially available PZT ceramic resonator with high resonance frequency was utilized as transducer for a piezoelectric biosensor. A dual ceramic resonators scheme was designed wherein two ceramic resonators were connected in parallel: one resonator was used as the sensing unit and the other as the control unit. This arrangement minimizes environmental influences including temperature fluctuation, while achieving the required frequency stability for biosensing applications. The detection of the cancer markers Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) and α-Fetoprotein (AFP) was carried out through frequency change measurement. The device showed high sensitivity (0.25 ng/ml) and fast detection (within 30 min) with small samples (1 μl), which is compatible with the requirements of clinical measurements. The results also showed that the ceramic resonator-based piezoelectric biosensor platform could be utilized with different chemical interfaces, and had the potential to be further developed into biosensor arrays with different specificities for simultaneous detection of multiple analytes.

Doping effects of CuO additives on the properties of low-temperature-sintered PMnN-PZT-based piezoelectric ceramics and their applications on surface acoustic wave devices

To develop the anisotropic ceramic substrate with low sintering temperature for surface acoustic wave (SAW) applications, the low cost and feasible material with moderate piezoelectric properties, good dielectric properties, and higher Curie temperature were explored. The piezoelectric ceramics with compositions of Pb[(Mn(1/3)Nb(2/3))(0.06-) (Zr(0.52)Ti(0.48))0.94] O(3) (PMnN-PZT) + 0.5 wt.% PbO + x wt.% CuO (0.05 = x = 0.3) had been prepared by the conventional mixed-oxides method. CuO dopants were used as the sintering aid to improve the bulk density under low sintering temperature (i.e., 980-1040 degrees C). The phase structures, microstructures, frequency behavior of dielectric properties (up to 50 MHz), piezoelectric properties, ferroelectric properties, and temperature stability with the amount of CuO additive were systematically investigated. Experimental results showed that the sintering temperature could be lowered down to 1020 degrees C and still keep reasonably good piezoelectric activity (i.e., high electromechanical coupling factor (k(p)), (k(t)) and dielectric and ferroelectric properties. The preferable composition, obtained at x = 0.1, presented the values of the electromechanical coupling factor (k(p)) (k(t)), mechanical quality factor (Q(m)), piezoelectric charge constant (d(33)), dielectric constant, dielectric loss, temperature coefficient of resonant frequency (TCF(B)), and Curie point (T(c)) of 0.54, 0.48, 850, 238 pc/N, 1450, 0.0023, 1.1 kV/mm, 26 coul/cm(2), -150 ppm/ degrees C, and 348 degrees C. Using this developed low-temperature-sintered material to make the piezoelectric substrate, the SAW filter was fabricated and its properties were measured. Results showed that this device possessed very high value of k(2)(7.13%) with a good TCF (-40.15 ppm/ degrees C), and a surface wave velocity (V(P)) of 2196 m/s.

The influence of electrode designs on the resonant vibrations for square piezoceramic plates

In this paper, the resonant vibrations of square piezoceramic plates with four different electrode designs are investigated. Two experimental techniques, the amplitude-fluctuation electronic speckle pattern interferometry (AF-ESPI) and the impedance analysis, are used to access the influence of the electrode arrangement on the resonant characteristics of square piezoceramic plates. Both the out-of-plane and in-plane resonant frequencies and full-field mode shapes of piezoceramic plates with various electrode designs are obtained from the AF-ESPI method. The impedance analyzer is used to measure the resonant and antiresonant frequencies of piezoceramic plates. The dynamic electromechanical coupling coefficient (EMCC), which relates to the ability of conversion between mechanical and electrical energy, is determined from the measured values of resonant and antiresonant frequencies. Experimental results of the resonant vibration characteristics of the square piezoceramic plates are verified by numerical computations based on the finite-element method. Excellent agreement between the experimental and numerical results is found in resonant frequencies and corresponding mode shapes. It is found that the electrode design has important influence on the resonant characteristics of piezoceramic plates. The effect of different designs of electrode is more significant in the in-plane modes than that in the out-of-plane modes.

The effects of ZnO films on surface acoustic wave properties of modified lead titanate ceramic substrates

Poly-crystal zinc oxide (ZnO) films with c-axis (002) orientation have been successfully grown on the strontium (Sr) modified lead titanate ceramic substrates with different Sr dopants by r.f. magnetron sputtering technique. Highly oriented ZnO films with c-axis normal to the substrates can be obtained under a total pressure of 10 mTorr containing 50% argon and 50% oxygen and r.f. power of 70 W for 3 hours. Crystalline structures of the films were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The phase velocity, electromechanical coupling coefficient and temperature coefficient of frequency of surface acoustic wave (SAW) devices with ZnO/IDT/PT (IDT, inter-digital transducer; PT, PbTiO3 ceramics) structure were investigated. The devices with ZnO/IDT/PT structure shows that the ZnO film effectively raise the electromechanical coupling coefficient (kappa2) from 3.8% to 9.9% of the device with the concentrations of Sr dopants of 0.15. It also improves the temperature coefficient of frequency of SAW devices.

Effects of strontium on the surface acoustic wave properties of Sm-modified PbTiO3 ceramics

The Sm-modified lead titanate ceramics with a composition of (Pb(0.88-x)Sr(x)Sm(0.08))(Ti(0.98)Mn(0.02))O(3); x = 0.05-0.25 were prepared by conventional mixed-oxide method. Surface acoustic wave (SAW) properties, including phase velocity, electromechanical coupling coefficient and temperature coefficient of frequency, were measured. The experiments successfully showed that Sr additive is helpful to obtain higher phase velocity and high electromechanical coupling coefficient. The SAW properties of our samples (V(p),k(2)) are better than some commercially-made PZT and PT samples.