Loaded vibrating quartz sensors

Abstract This paper reviews the original contributions in the development of vibrating quartz sensors, loaded with whatever medium: solid, liquid or gas. The common feature of such a loading is its ability to vibrate synchronously with the quartz resonator as a compound resonator. The paper introduces a new concept in vibrating quartz sensors, where the vibrational characteristics of such a compound resonator, namely the nominal frequency and vibrational amplitude, are correlated to the physical characteristics of the medium vibrating synchronously with the quartz resonator as a compound resonator. The energy transfer model is introduced to explain the microweighing capability of quartz resonators. Further, it is proved that microweighing is a common feature of all quartz resonators, whatever their vibrational mode. It is also proved that other piezoelectric resonators exhibit the same capability. Damping of quartz-resonator vibrations at certain temperatures during a temperature sweep is correlated with the deposited film morphology. Resonance of the gas within a cavity is used for the development of tunable gas sensors. Examples are given for hydrogen and methane detection without using a catalyst. An experiment called ‘Nanobalance’ is also presented, which was performed in outer space.

[1]  J. Gordon,et al.  The oscillation frequency of a quartz resonator in contact with liquid , 1985 .

[2]  E. Indrea,et al.  On the possibility of thin film structure study with a quartz crystal microbalance , 1989 .

[3]  G. Guilbault,et al.  Piezoelectric detectors for organophosphorus compounds and pesticides. , 1972, Analytical chemistry.

[4]  T. Flanagan,et al.  The Effect of the Absorption of Hydrogen and Deuterium on the Frequency of a Quartz-Palladium Resonator , 1974 .

[5]  D. I. Bolef,et al.  Acoustic Wave Analysis of the Operation of Quartz‐Crystal Film‐Thickness Monitors , 1968 .

[6]  V. Mecea,et al.  The mechanism of the interaction of thin films with resonating quartz crystal substrates: The energy transfer model , 1979 .

[7]  E. Benes,et al.  Improved quartz crystal microbalance technique , 1984 .

[8]  T. Flanagan,et al.  The kinetics of hydrogen (deuterium) sorption by thin palladium layers studied with a piezoelectric quartz crystal microbalance , 1976 .

[9]  J. Gordon,et al.  Frequency of a quartz microbalance in contact with liquid , 1985 .

[10]  G. Hoffman,et al.  Observations on a quartz crystal deposition monitor , 1971 .

[11]  E. Benes,et al.  Progress in monitoring thin film thickness with quartz crystal resonators , 1976 .

[12]  F. Boersma,et al.  Rotated Y‐cut quartz crystal with two different electrodes treated as a one‐dimensional acoustic composite resonator , 1977 .

[13]  G. Bastiaans,et al.  Piezoelectric crystals as detectors in liquid chromatography , 1980 .

[14]  R. Bucur,et al.  Piezoelectric quartz crystal microbalance (PQCMB) for sorption studies under dynamic conditions , 1980 .

[15]  Chih‐shun Lu,et al.  Investigation of film‐thickness determination by oscillating quartz resonators with large mass load , 1972 .

[16]  S. Hertl,et al.  New method of measuring vibration amplitudes of quartz crystals , 1984 .

[17]  E. C. V. Ballegooijen.  Simultaneous mass and temperature determination using a single quartz wafer: An optimized crystal cut , 1978 .

[18]  K. Behrndt.  Long-Term Operation of Crystal Oscillators in Thin-Film Deposition , 1971 .

[19]  R. Bucur,et al.  The use of RF voltage in quartz crystal microbalance measurements: application to nonmetallic films , 1974 .

[20]  V. Mecea,et al.  Thermocompensated ultrasonic hydrogen detector , 1984 .

[21]  R. Mueller,et al.  Direct Gravimetric Calibration of a Quartz Crystal Microbalance , 1968 .

[22]  R. Bucur,et al.  Equilibrium and kinetic measurements on thin Pd-H layers , 1980 .

[23]  V. Mecea.  A new method of measuring the mass sensitive areas of quartz crystal resonators , 1989 .