Numerical Simulation on Development of a SAW Based Biosensor

Surface acoustic waves can be generated at the free surface of an elastic solid. For this property, surface acoustic based devices were initially developed for the telecommunication purpose such as signal filters and resonators. The acoustic energy is strongly confined on the surface of the surface acoustic waves (SAW) based devices and consequent their ultra-sensitivity to the surface perturbation. This has made SAW permits the highly sensitive detection of utterly diminutive charges on the surface. Hence, SAW based devices have been modified to be sensors for the mass loading effect on its surface and this is perfectly for biosensor development. There have been a lot of complicated theoretical models for the SAW devices development since 1960 as signal filters and resonators such as from delta function model, equivalent circuit model, to the current SAW models such as coupling-of-modes (COM) model, P-matrix model and Computer Simulation Technology Studio Suite (CST). However, these models are more tailored for the telecommunication application purposes and very complex. Thus, this paper presents the finite element analysis (FEA) modeling, COMSOL Multiphysics which is used to study the mass loading effect on SAW which will be used as biosensor. This study managed to simulate the mass loading sensitivity of 8.71x10(7) kHz/g mm(-2).