Design and Simulation of a Surface Acoustic Wave Based Micro Pressure Sensor

Among electromechanical systems, sensors based on surface acoustic waves (SAW) are of particular importance due to their fast response, high sensitivity, compact structure, small size, low cost of mass production as well as their wide range of applications. This paper presents design simulation and optimization of a SAW based micro pressure sensor using finite element method. Using the mathematical model of Delta function and various analysis like time-dependent analysis and frequency-domain analysis, several methods for calculating the central frequency of this kind of sensors have been presented. Determination of central frequency is then followed by calculation of changes in surface acoustic wave velocities for applied pressures. This lead to obtain the sensitivity of microsensor. By optimization of the affecting parameters, sensitivity of this sensor has been improved up to -101 ppm/ bar.