Surface acoustic wave sensors for harsh environments

This work is performed in collaboration with the National Energy Technology Laboratory and is directed at developing wireless sensors for the harsh environment of combustion system exhaust. Temperatures can be in the 600- 1000 C range and above. There are very few options for wireless sensing in this temperature range. We are studying surface acoustic wave devices with oxygen-sensing metal oxide layers on the propagation path. The substrates used are langasite, a high-temperature piezoelectric material.

The basic sensing concept is illustrated in the figure below.

Below are a list of related publications. Some citations are linked to a draft of the paper; for the final version consult the journal or conference proceedings.

Conference papers

• "Multiphysics Simulation of the Effect of Sensing and Spacer Layers on SAW Velocity,"  P. Zheng, D.W. Greve, and I.J. Oppenheim,  Proceedings of 2009 Comsol conference.
• Chin, T.-L., Zheng, P., Greve, D. W., L. C., Oppenheim, I. J. (2010) "Flexible instrumentation for wireless SAW sensing in harsh environments," (2010 Proceedings ed., vol. digital object identifier 10.1109/FREQ.2010.5556323 , pp. 297-300).
• Zheng, P., Chin, T.-L., Greve, D. W., Oppenheim, I. J., Ashok, T., Malone, V., Miller, J., Cao, L. (2010). Langasite SAW Device with Gas-Sensitive Layer (2010 Proceedings ed., digital object identifier 10.1109/ULTSYM.2010.5935779, pp. not available yet).
• Zheng, P., Chin, T.-L., Greve, D. W., Oppenheim, I. J., Cao, L. (2010). Pulse-mode temperature sensing with  langasite SAW devices. In Tjoelker, Bob (Ed.), IEEE International Frequency Control Symposium (2010 Proceedings ed., vol. digital object identifier 10.1109/FREQ.2010.5556323 , pp. 297 - 300).
• P. Zheng, D.W. Greve, I.J. Oppenheim, and V. Malone, "Langasite SAW temperature and oxygen multi-sensor," Proc. 2011 IEEE Frequency Control Conference, digital object identifier 10.1109/FCS.2011.5977811, pp. not available yet.
• D.W. Greve, P. Zheng, T.L. Chin, I.J. Oppenheim, and V. Malone, "Wireless Harsh-environment oxygen sensors," Proc. IEEE Sensors, pp. not available yet.
• T.-L. Chin, D.W. Greve, and I.J. Oppenheim, "Compact antennas for wireless langasite SAW sensors," Proc. IEEE Ultrasonics Symposium 2011, pp. not available yet.

Journal articles

• P. Zheng, T.-L. Chin, D. Greve, I. Oppenheim, V. Malone, and L. Cao, "High Temperature Langasite SAW Oxygen Sensor," IEEE Trans. Ultrasonics, Ferrroelectrics, and Frequency Control, 58 1538-40 (2011).
• P. Zheng, D.W. Greve, I.J. Oppenheim, T.-L. Chin, and V. Malone, "Langasite Surface Acoustic Wave Sensors: Fabrication and Testing,"  IEEE Trans. Ultrasonics, Ferrroelectrics, and Frequency Control, (in press).