A surface acoustic wave (SAW) resonator chip setup is presented that eliminates interfering signal responses caused by changes in the electrical environment of the surrounding media. When using a two-port resonator, applying electrically shielding layers between the interdigital transducers (IDTs) can be challenging due to the limited dimensions. Therefore, a layered setup consisting of an insulating polymer layer and a conductive gold layer was preferred. The SAW resonators were provided with polycarbonate housings, resulting in SAW resonator chips. This setup enables easy application of a wide range of coatings to the active part of the resonator surface, while ensuring subsequent electrical and fluidic integration of the resonator chips into a microfluidic array for measurements. The signal responses of uncoated SAW resonators and those with polymer coatings with and without a gold layer were tested with aqueous potassium chloride (KCl) solutions up to 3 mol/L, corresponding to conductivities up to 308 mS/cm. The use of a polymer coating at the thickness of the first Love mode resonance and a conductive gold layer completely reduced the electrical impact on the SAW resonator signal response, making small signals resulting from changes in viscosity and density of the KCl solutions visible.
Keywords: Love wave; conductivity; gold; liquid sensing; parylene C; sensor array; sensor chip; surface acoustic wave; two-port resonator.