We are independent & ad-supported. We may earn a commission for purchases made through our links.
Advertiser Disclosure
Our website is an independent, advertising-supported platform. We provide our content free of charge to our readers, and to keep it that way, we rely on revenue generated through advertisements and affiliate partnerships. This means that when you click on certain links on our site and make a purchase, we may earn a commission. Learn more.
How We Make Money
We sustain our operations through affiliate commissions and advertising. If you click on an affiliate link and make a purchase, we may receive a commission from the merchant at no additional cost to you. We also display advertisements on our website, which help generate revenue to support our work and keep our content free for readers. Our editorial team operates independently of our advertising and affiliate partnerships to ensure that our content remains unbiased and focused on providing you with the best information and recommendations based on thorough research and honest evaluations. To remain transparent, we’ve provided a list of our current affiliate partners here.
Hardware

Our Promise to you

Founded in 2002, our company has been a trusted resource for readers seeking informative and engaging content. Our dedication to quality remains unwavering—and will never change. We follow a strict editorial policy, ensuring that our content is authored by highly qualified professionals and edited by subject matter experts. This guarantees that everything we publish is objective, accurate, and trustworthy.

Over the years, we've refined our approach to cover a wide range of topics, providing readers with reliable and practical advice to enhance their knowledge and skills. That's why millions of readers turn to us each year. Join us in celebrating the joy of learning, guided by standards you can trust.

What are SAW Resonators?

By Jo Dunaway
Updated: May 16, 2024
Views: 13,796
Share

Surface acoustic wave (SAW) resonators are coupled with a variety of filters in surface wave frequency control chip technology and used in a wide array of electronics devices. These SAW filters must meet all industry standards for use in cellular phones, global positioning systems, digital satellite receivers and keyless entry remote controls, to name a few. SAW resonators have been used in applications as diverse as wireless point of sale terminals, wireless tire pressure monitoring devices and microwave digital radios. They have been used as biomarkers in detecting disease markers and can even sniff out the presence of plastic explosives remotely.

A surface acoustic wave is a mechanical wave motion traveling along the surface of a solid material, and it has both a vertical shear and longitudinal component that is capable of coupling with any media in contact with that same surface. Amplitude and velocity are born into the wave of this coupling, which makes SAW resonators then capable of sensing both mechanical and mass properties. This gives the SAW resonator the capability of high-frequencies beyond the conventional ceramic and crystal resonators on the market.

Upon a piezoelectric substrate such as quartz are placed metal electrodes transducers as receivers that can then receive an electrical signal and convert it to an acoustic wave, then take the acoustic wave and convert it back to an electric signal. This feedback loop creates a long delay because acoustic waves are slow, and these delays make them useful in many devices, such as pulse compression radar and bandpass filters for radios. SAW resonators are used so widely that there are millions of them made in countries around the world every day.

New developments have been studied for further use of SAW resonators as wireless temperature measurement sensors in harsh and isolated environmental conditions. They need no batteries and require little periodic calibration and little maintenance. These resonators can receive and transmit wirelessly, so they can sense without invasion of high-powered switchgear and smart grid applications of all kinds.

Another possible avenue for the use of SAW resonators is in the development of wireless food probes to replace the wired food probes found in many commercial food ovens. This could reduce the amount of salmonella, E. coli and clostridium pathogens from infecting people through undercooked food. Without the wiring necessary for these wired probes, a SAW resonator could be read and powered by an interrogation antenna from embedded electronics.

Perhaps the most interesting discovery is that SAW resonators can possibly smell disease markers for ovarian cancer and be used as an early testing device for a form of cancer that is a silent killer and that had no early warning test available as of 2011. It already has been established that SAW resonators can sniff out plastic explosives and trinitrotoluene (TNT). These qualities can make them immensely helpful for robotics to be used by bomb squads in unfamiliar and dangerous situations. They can thus be used in the service of saving lives on two very difficult-to-solve fronts.

Share
EasyTechJunkie is dedicated to providing accurate and trustworthy information. We carefully select reputable sources and employ a rigorous fact-checking process to maintain the highest standards. To learn more about our commitment to accuracy, read our editorial process.
Discussion Comments
Share
https://www.easytechjunkie.com/what-are-saw-resonators.htm
Copy this link
EasyTechJunkie, in your inbox

Our latest articles, guides, and more, delivered daily.

EasyTechJunkie, in your inbox

Our latest articles, guides, and more, delivered daily.