Thickness shear mode quartz crystal resonators with optimized elliptical electrodes

Quartz crystal resonators (QCRs) with circular electrodes have been widely used for various liquid and gas sensing applications. In this work,quartz crystal resonators with elliptical electrodes were studied and tested for liquid property measurement. Mindlin’s theory was used to optimize the dimension and geometry of the electrodes and a 5-MHz QCR with minimum series resistance and without any spurious modes was obtained. A series of AT-cut QCRs with elliptical electrodes of different sizes were fabricated and their sensing performances were compared to devices with circular electrodes. The experimental result shows that the device with elliptical electrodes can obtain lower resonance impedance and a higher Q factor,which results in a better loading capability. Even though the sensitivities of devices with elliptical and circular electrodes are found to be similar,the sensor with elliptical electrodes has much higher resolution due to a better frequency stability. The study indicates that the performance of QCRs with elliptical electrodes is superior to that of traditional QCRs with circular electrodes.     

Lateral field excitation properties of langasite single crystal

In this work, bulk acoustic wave propagation properties of langasite single crystal excited by lateral electric field have been investigated. Three important crystal cuts have been identified for different operational modes of lateral field excitation (LFE) on langasite substrate, namely the (yxl)65o (pure-LFE mode), (yxl)45o (quasi-LFE mode), and (yxl)0o (pseudo-LFE mode). Devices on langasite substrate with the above cuts were fabricated and tested, and the experimental results agree well with the theoretical analysis. It is found that a pure thickness shear mode exists in the (yxl)65o langasite LFE device with the bare side facing liquid, and no spurious mode is found due to its moderately large piezoelectric coupling factor. In addition, (yxl)0o langasite LFE device is also found suitable for liquid phase sensing applications.