SAWs were first explained in 1885 by Lord Rayleigh, who described the surface acoustic mode of propagation and predicted its properties in his classic paper. Named after their discoverer, Rayleigh waves have a longitudinal and a vertical shear component that can couple with any media in contact with the surface. This coupling strongly affects the amplitude and velocity of the wave, allowing SAW sensors to directly sense mass and mechanical properties.
SAW devices
SAW devices use SAW in electronic components to provide a number of different functions, including delay lines, filters, correlators and DC to DC converters.
Application in electronic components
This kind of wave is commonly used in devices called SAW devices in electronic circuits. SAW devices are used as filters, oscillators and transformers, devices that are based on the transduction of acoustic waves. The transduction from electric energy to mechanical energy is accomplished by the use of piezoelectric materials. Electronic devices employing SAWs normally use one or more interdigital transducers to convert acoustic waves to electrical signals and vice versa by exploiting the piezoelectric effect of certain materials. These devices are fabricated by photolithography, the process used in the manufacture of silicon integrated circuits. SAW filters are now used in mobile telephones, and provide significant advantages in performance, cost, and size over other filter technologies such as quartz crystals, LC filters, and waveguide filters. Much research has been done in the last 20 years in the area of surface acoustic wave sensors. Sensor applications include all areas of sensing. SAW sensors have seen relatively modest commercial success to date, but are commonly commercially available for some applications such as touchscreen displays.
SAW resonators are used in many of the same applications in which quartz crystals are used, because they can operate at higher frequency. They are often used in radio transmitters where tunability is not required. They are often used in applications such as garage door opener remote controls, short range radio frequency links for computer peripherals, and other devices where :wikt:channelization|channelization is not required. Where a radio link might use several channels, quartz crystal oscillators are more commonly used to drive a phase locked loop. Since the resonant frequency of a SAW device is set by the mechanical properties of the crystal, it does not drift as much as a simple LC oscillator, where conditions such as capacitor performance and battery voltage will vary substantially with temperature and age. SAW filters are also often used in radio receivers, as they can have precisely determined and narrow passbands. This is helpful in applications where a single antenna must be shared between a transmitter and a receiver operating at closely spaced frequencies. SAW filters are also frequently used in television receivers, for extracting subcarriers from the signal; until the analog switchoff, the extraction of digital audio subcarriers from the intermediate frequency strip of a television receiver or video recorder was one of the main markets for SAW filters. Early pioneer Jeffery Collins incorporated surface acoustic wave devices in a Skynet receiver he developed in the 1970s. It synchronised signals faster than existing technology. They are also often used in digital receivers, and are well suited to superhet applications. This is because the intermediate frequency signal is always at a fixed frequency after the local oscillator has been mixed with the received signal, and so a filter with a fixed frequency and high Q provides excellent removal of unwanted or interference signals. In these applications, SAW filters are almost always used with a phase locked loop synthesized local oscillator, or a varicap driven oscillator.
SAW in geophysics
In seismology surface acoustic waves travelling along the Earth's surface play an important role, since they can be the most destructive type of seismic wave produced by earthquakes.
SAW in microfluidics
In recent years, attention has been drawn to using SAWs to drive microfluidic actuation and a variety of other processes. Owing to the mismatch of sound velocities in the SAW substrate and fluid, SAWs can be efficiently transferred into the fluid, creating significant inertial forces and fluid velocities. This mechanism can be exploited to drive fluid actions such as pumping, mixing, and jetting.Surface acoustic wave#cite note-8| To drive these processes, there is a change of mode of the wave at the liquid-substrate interface. In the substrate, the SAW wave is a transverse wave and upon entering the droplet the wave becomes a longitudinal wave.Surface acoustic wave#cite note-9| It is this longitudinal wave that creates the flow of fluid within the microfluidic droplet, allowing mixing to take place. This technique can be used as an alternative to microchannels and microvalves for manipulation of substrates, allowing for an open system. This mechanism has also been used in droplet-based microfluidics for droplet manipulation. Notably, using SAW as an actuation mechanism, droplets were pushed towards two or more outlets for sorting. Moreover, SAWs were used for droplet size modulation, splitting, trapping, tweezing, and nanofluidic pipetting. PDMS is a material that can be used to create microchannels and microfluidic chips. It has many uses, including in experiments where living cells are to be tested or processed. If living organisms need to be kept alive, it is important to monitor and control their environment, such as heat and pH levels; however, if these elements are not regulated, the cells may die or it may result in unwanted reactions. PDMS has been found to absorb acoustic energy, causing the PDMS to heat up quickly. The use of SAW as a way to heat these PDMS devices, along with liquids inside microchannels, is now a technique that can be done in a controlled manner with the ability to manipulate the temperature to within 0.1 °C.
SAW in flow measurement
Surface acoustic waves can be used for flow measurement. SAW relies on the propagation of a wave front, which appears similar to seismic activities. The waves are generated at the excitation centre and spread out along the surface of a solid material. An electric pulse induces them to generate SAWs that propagate like the waves of an earthquake. Interdigital transducer acts as sender and as receiver. When one is in sender mode, the two most distant ones act as receivers. The SAWs travel along the surface of the measuring tube, but a portion will couple out to the liquid. The decoupling angle depends on the liquid respectively the propagation velocity of the wave which is specific to the liquid. On the other side of the measuring tube, portions of the wave will couple into the tube and continue their way along its surface to the next interdigital transducer. Another portion will be coupled out again and travels back to the other side of the measuring tube where the effect repeats itself and the transducer on this side detects the wave. That means excitation of any one transducer here will lead to a sequence of input signals on two other transducers in the distance. Two of the transducers send their signals in the direction of flow, two in the other direction.
