IOP PUBLISHING

JOURNAL OF MICROMECHANICS AND MICROENGINEERING

doi:10.1088/0960-1317/17/3/014

J. Micromech. Microeng. 17 (2007) 515523

A novel 440 MHz wireless SAW

microsensor integrated with
pressuretemperature sensors and ID tag
Keekeun Lee, Wen Wang, Taehyun Kim and Sangsik Yang
Department of Electronics Engineering, Ajou University, Suwon, 443-749, Korea
E-mail: keekeun@ajou.ac.kr

Received 24 August 2006, in final form 14 November 2006

Published 9 February 2007
Online at stacks.iop.org/JMM/17/515
Abstract
This paper presents the development of a 440 MHz range surface acoustic
wave (SAW)-based microsensor integrated with pressuretemperature
sensors and ID tag. Two piezoelectric substrates were bonded, in which a
150 m air gap was structured by metal poles. The pressure sensor was
placed on the top substrate, whereas the ID tag and temperature sensor were
located on the bottom substrate. Coupling of modes (COM) modeling was
used to find optimal design parameters. Using the extracted optimal design
parameters, the SAW device was fabricated. In wireless device testing using
a network analyzer, sharp reflection peaks with high S/N ratio, small signal
attenuation and small spurious peaks were observed in the time domain. All
the reflection peaks were well matched with the predicted values from the
simulation. With 10 mW RF power from the network analyzer, a 1 m
readout distance was observed. Depending on applied external pressure, the
phase shifts of the reflection peaks were linearly varied. The evaluated
sensitivity was about 2.9 kPa1. Eight sharp ON reflection peaks were
observed for the ID tag. The temperature sensor was characterized from
20 C to 200 C. A large phase shift per unit temperature change was
observed.
(Some figures in this article are in colour only in the electronic version)

1. Introduction
In recent years, interest in surface acoustic wave (SAW)based microsensors has greatly increased for application to tire
pressure monitoring systems (TPMSs), temperature sensors,
biosensors and environmental gas sensors [14]. SAWbased microsensors present many advantages over existing
semiconductor-based sensors: (1) they do not require a battery
or any power supply to operate, (2) they can be applied even
under extremely harsh environment conditions, (3) they can be
accessed wirelessly at particularly inaccessible locations such
as hazardous and high voltage areas. Several groups have
reported SAW-based RFID tags and pressuretemperature
sensors with different designs and operating principles [58].
For TPMS application, Schimetta et al reported a wirelessly
requestable passive pressuretemperature sensor based on
the combination of SAW transponder technology with a
0960-1317/07/030515+09$30.00

2007 IOP Publishing Ltd

high quality (Q) capacitive pressure sensor and demonstrated

temperature-corrected pressure measurement [5]. For SAW
RFID tags, Hartmann reported 2.4 GHz range RFID tags
on 128 LiNbO3 substrate with 64 bit data capacity using
simultaneous time position and phase shifting [7]. However,
despite some reported success stories, present SAW-based
microsensors suffer from large signal attenuation, broad
reflection peaks, high spurious peaks and signal evaluation
errors.
For human recognition in intelligent buildings, a 440 MHz
range wireless SAW microsensor integrated with pressure
temperature sensors and ID tag was fabricated for the first time
and then wirelessly characterized using a network analyzer.
Figure 1 shows schematic diagrams of the integrated SAW
sensors. Two piezoelectric substrates were bonded with a
conductive silver paste, in which a 150 m air gap was
structured. The pressure sensor was placed on the top

Printed in the UK

515

K Lee et al
Reflectors for pressure
sensor

IDT
Antenna

Metal pole

Reflectors for ID tag

Reflectors for
temperature sensor

(a)

Reflectors for

Reflectors for ID tag

temperature sensor

(b)

2. Design consideration
The primary goals of the SAW-integrated sensors are high S/N
ratio, sharp reflection peaks, small spurious peaks, long range
wireless reading distance and high sensitivity to temperature
and pressure changes. The materials, structure parameters,
processing and testing methods were varied to find the optimal
device performance.

Reflectors for

IDT

By analyzing the phase shifts, we can extract the pressure

values. For the ID tag, each bar-code-like reflector creates an
impulse peak in the measurement unit. The reflection peaks
represent the tags ID and data. Using peak position and phase
angle, the unique ID number can be extracted. Temperature
variation induces position shifts of the reflection peaks in the
time domain because a change in temperature results in a
variation of the acoustic path length and a variation of the
SAW phase velocity. The resulting change of propagation
time leads to phase shifts.
To find optimal design parameters, coupling of modes
(COM) modeling was used. According to the extracted design
parameters, the device was fabricated and then characterized
using an RF network analyzer. In this paper, we describe
the process used to fabricate the integrated SAW sensor,
the electrical and mechanical device performance, and a
comparison between simulated and measured results.

pressure sensor

2.1. Overall device structure

(c)

Intensity

ID tag

Temperature

Time
Pressure

(d)

Figure 1. Schematic views of the integrated microsensor.

(a) Overall cross-sectional view, (b) top view of the ID tag and
temperature sensor on the bottom substrate, (c) flip-over view of the
top substrate for the pressure sensor and (d) predicted reflection
peaks in the time domain.

substrate, whereas the ID tag and temperature sensor were

located on the bottom substrate. The interdigital transducers
(IDTs) were placed on both top and bottom substrates and
were electrically connected to each other with 140 m
thick metal poles. Metal poles were deposited by a nickel
electroplating technique. A RF pulse is transmitted from the
network analyzer to the integrated SAW microsensor through
antennas. The IDT converts electromagnetic (EM) signals
into mechanical acoustic waves. The SAW propagates on
both piezoelectric substrates and is partially reflected by the
reflectors. The reflected waves are reconverted into an EM
wave by the IDT and are transmitted back to the network
analyzer. In the network analyzer, the reflected peaks are
arranged in a time domain depending on the distance from the
IDT. By appropriate arrangement of the reflector positions, we
can extract RFID, temperature and pressure information.
External pressure induces the bending of the diaphragm,
which leads to time and phase angle shifts of reflection peaks.
516

The main design parameters regarding the overall device

structure are the air gap height, the thickness of the top
piezoelectric substrate and the metal pole material. A
150 m air gap was designed to minimize interference
between the top and bottom SAW energies. 350 m
diaphragm thickness was employed. A thin diaphragm
provides better sensitivity than a thick one, but the maximum
measurable pressure range can be decreased due to a limited
cavity depth and weak diaphragm properties. Metal poles used
to connect two IDTs and for the supporting poles with uniform
thickness can induce impedance mismatching due to additional
induction and resistance values during RF signal transmission.
High quality nickel poles of 140 m thickness were carefully
electroplated.
2.2. Piezoelectric substrate
A 41 YX LiNbO3 piezoelectric substrate was used for
both the pressure sensor and ID tag/temperature sensor
because it has high SAW propagation velocity (4792 m s1)
and large electromechanical coupling factor K2 (17.2%)
[9, 10]. High SAW velocity provides easy device patterning
in fabrication. A large value of K2 allows high reflectivity
from the reflectors and low insertion loss. 41 YX LiNbO3
has a leaky SAW propagation mode. The leaky SAW devices
possess many attractive features over its SAW counterpart,
Rayleigh: (1) leaky SAW devices can be less sensitive to
surface contamination and environmental conditions because
leaky SAW propagation occurs beneath the piezoelectric
surface. However, the leaky SAW is still susceptible to
surface conditions, so several gas sensors (or environmental
sensors) are made on the leaky SAW substrate. (2) Leaky
SAW devices are capable of handling high RF power because

A novel 440 MHz wireless SAW microsensor

the leaky SAW penetrates deeper into the substrate than the
Rayleigh wave. Quartz has almost zero temperature sensitivity
at room temperature, so it can offer good stability in a harsh
environment. However, 41 LiNbO3 provides larger K2 to
decrease the insertion loss. So in this proto-type device, we
chose the 41 YX LiNbO3 as the piezoelectric substrate for the
pressure sensor. A clean surface without any damage was used
to lower resistive and scattering losses and thus to minimize
insertion loss during SAW propagation.

2.3. IDT

2.4. Reflectors
thick aluminum was used as the reflector. The
1500 A
main insertion loss mechanisms of the propagation SAW are
considered as the distribution of the energy to the individual
reflectors and the resistive and scattering losses of the SAW
on its propagation path. Among several different types
of SAW reflectors (e.g., open-circuited metal stripes, shortcircuited metal stripes, a IDT-type reflector and a single-bartype reflector), short-circuited metal stripes (figure 2(a)) were
used for the reflectors in order to obtain higher reflectivity
from reflectors and lower insertion loss due to almost zero selfreflection and strong reflectivity [11]. On the bottom substrate
for the ID tag and temperature sensor, two acoustic tracks
were used to prevent undesirable spurious peaks which come
from multiple reflections between closely spaced reflectors.
The multi reflections induce a spurious reflection peak where
an off peak is intended. The distance between the IDT
and the first reflector of the ID tag was set to 2.19 mm to
separate environmental echoes from the response signal. Exact
positioning of reflectors (n : where n is an integer) along
SAW propagation paths was designed for precise impedance
matching.
2.5. Long range reading distance
Several parameters affect the maximum reading distance r.
Using the radar equation, we can infer r [12] as


1 4 P0 G2i G2e 4

.
(1)
r=
4
kT0 B F S/N D

(a)
0

-20

S11(dB)

Two IDTs were placed on the top and bottom substrates and
were connected to each other by two metal poles. An IDT
with uniform finger spacing was designed. To obtain high
S/N ratio and sharp reflection peaks from the reflectors, the
number of finger pairs was set to 10. According to the
IDT design rule (saw = v saw/f), the width was 2.4 m.
The metallization layer (aluminum) should be kept thin to
minimize self-reflection from the IDT itself. However, the
bonding pads require a thicker metallization layer to ensure
faultless bonding. To prevent any damages (e.g., large holes,
scratch, contamination and peeling) of small IDT patterns
during UV lithography and lift-off processes, we chose a one
step metallization process for the IDT and bonding pads. The
The SAW experiences
thickness was targeted at 1500 A.
some angular spreading due to the finite width of the IDT
aperture. This results in increased insertion loss. The angular
spreading can be decreased by employing a wider acoustic
aperture. A large aperture of 796 m (80 ) was used.

-40

-60

-80

-100

Time (us)
(b)

Figure 2. (a) Schematic views of the integrated microsensor divided

into two individual SAW sensors for COM modeling. (b) The
simulated reflection coefficient S11 in the time domain without
diaphragm bending.

Here, is the electromagnetic wavelength, Po is the RF power,

Gi and Ge are the gains of the antennas, k is Boltzmanns
constant, To is the absolute temperature, B is the system
bandwidth, F is the noise figure, S/N is the minimum signalto-noise ratio required to safely detect the received signal
and D is the insertion loss. Among many parameters, the
antenna gain is the largest impact parameter to obtain the
maximum reading distance because the operating wavelength
is already determined in our desired application. Based on our
fabricated devices, typical values for all the parameters are
Po = 10 dBm, Gi = 12 dBi, Ge = 6 dBi, To = 300 K, B =
50 MHz, F = 5 dB and S/N = 10 dB. Therefore, the calculated
maximum reading distance was 2 m.
2.6. Temperature sensor
A 41 YX LiNbO3 (temperature coefficient of delay:
69 ppm C1) substrate was used for the temperature sensor
because it has a large sensitivity to temperature variation [13].
As a function of temperature T, the phase difference between
the 1st and 2nd reflection peaks can be described by
21 (T ) = 21 (Tref ) [1 + T CD (T Tref )],

(2)

where Tref is the reference temperature (or room temperature)

and TCD stands for the temperature coefficient of delay.
However, the evaluation of the phase differences induces an
ambiguity when the phase shift exceeds 360 . Therefore,
517

K Lee et al

three reflectors were placed on the bottom substrate for the

temperature sensor to eliminate this ambiguity. Using the
time delay, 31, between the 3rd and 1st reflectors and the time
delay, 21, between the 2nd and 1st reflectors, the ambiguity
of the phase evaluation can be overcome, and the sensitivity
can be evaluated from [14]
T = k 2f (31 221 ),

(3)

where k means the ratio of the third-to-first reflector distance

to the second-to-first reflector distance. The distance between
the 1st and 2nd reflectors was 0.415 mm, and the distance
between the 2nd and 3rd reflectors was 1.09 mm.
2.7. Pressure sensor
External pressure induces the bending of the diaphragm,
resulting in a variation of the acoustic path length, L, and
a variation of the SAW phase velocity, vs . The variations in
L and vs lead to time and phase angle shifts of the reflection
peaks. By evaluating the phase shifts of the reflection peaks,
we can determine the external pressure values. There are two
regions along the bent diaphragm: stretched and compressed
regions. The stretched section is observed near the center
of the diaphragm, whereas the compressed strain section is
observed near the edge of the diaphragm. It has been known
that the SAW propagation velocity is lower in the stretched
section, whereas it is higher in the compressed section. The
pressure sensor requires at least three reflectors to minimize
the temperature dependence effect. The first two reflectors
were placed at a stretched region and the third reflector was
placed at a compressed region. The phase shift of each reflector
(i) includes pressure information (ip) and temperature
information (it). The phase shift i for each reflection
peak is described as
i = (ip + it ) = 2f0 i ,

(4)

where f0 is the center frequency and  i is the time delay

of each reflection peak. Based on equation (2), there is a
relationship between 32t and 21t,
32t = L3 /L2 21t

(5)

where 32t and 21t are the phase shifts due to the
temperature effect, L2 is the distance between the 1st and
2nd reflectors, and L3 is the distance between the 2nd and 3rd
reflectors. The total combined phase shifts (s) of the bent
diaphragm are obtained by
s = (21p + 21t ) w (32p + 32t ),

(6)

where w is the ratio of the first-to-second reflector distance

to the second-to-third reflector distance.
By inserting
equation (5) into equation (6), equation (6) provides
only pressure information, so the temperature effect is
compensated. As w is increased, the above temperature
compensation method can be more effective way [1517].
2.8. ID tag
The primary concerns of the RFID system are anti-collision,
low insertion loss, high tag accuracy and high tag density
[1, 7]. The RFID reader requires the ability to read multiple ID
tags at one time. When an RFID reader receives multiple return
signals from multiple ID tags simultaneously, the reader must
518

accurately determine the unique ID of the individual ID tag.

Because the SAW ID tags are passive components without any
active logic on the chip, they cannot be addressed individually.
To access more than one ID tag, frequency division multiple
access (FDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA) or
code division multiple access (CDMA) must be incorporated.
A high K2 piezoelectric substrate, shorted-grating reflector,
no damaged surface and optimal device dimension were used
for low insertion loss. For high tag accuracy, two acoustic
tracks were employed on the bottom substrate to minimize
undesirable spurious peaks from multiple reflections. An
adequate distance between the IDT and the first reflector
(2.19 mm) was set to separate environmental echoes from
the response signal. Precise positioning and weighting of
the reflectors were used on its acoustic path. Close spacing
between bar-code-type reflectors was structured to obtain a
high number of data bits within a given limited region. Eight
bar-code-like reflectors were arranged in a row to realize an
ID tag. Each peak represents one data bit. By using eight
reflectors, 28 objects can be identified.

3. Device simulation
The SAW reflective delay line with various configurations
can be effectively simulated using the COM modeling
[18, 19]. To obtain the reflection coefficient S11 using the
COM theory, we divided the integrated microsensor into two
SAW devices as shown in figure 2(a). One device has an IDT
and three shorted-grating reflectors for the pressure sensor and
the other has two acoustic tracks, eight reflectors for the ID
tag and three reflectors for the temperature sensor. Two SAW
devices were electrically connected through conductive metal
poles, which can be considered to be additional resistances
(figure 2). Using the admittance matrix solution, S11 for each
device can be described as
(YG y11top )(YG +y22top )+y12top y21top
S11top = (Y +y
,
G
11top )(YG +y22top )y12top y21top
(7)
(Y +Y y
)(Y +Y +y
)+y
y
S11bott = (YG +YM +y 11bott)(Y G+Y M+y 22bott)y12bott y21bott .
G
M
11bott
G
M
22bott
12bott
21bott
Here, S11top is S11 for the top substrate device, S11bott is S11 for
the bottom substrate device, ytop is the calculated admittance
matrix for the top device, ybott is the admittance matrix for the
bottom device, YM is the input admittance for the metal poles
and YG is the resource and load inductance. The combined
overall S11 for the two SAW devices can be determined by
S11 = S11top + S11bott .

(8)

Using the parameters listed in table 1 and the FFT program,

the integrated SAW device was simulated to obtain S11 in the
time domain.
As shown in figure 2(a), the top device has one IDT
and three reflectors in an acoustic track, whereas the bottom
device has one IDT and two acoustic tracks. Both IDT have the
same dimension and structure. However, the aperture of the
reflectors located on the top device is two times larger than that
of the bottom reflectors. Sharp reflection peaks, few spurious
noises and nearly equal intensities between the peaks were
observed in COM modeling (figure 2(b)). From the simulated
results, we found that (1) among three simulated devices
with different IDT finger pairs (10, 50 and 100 IDT finger

A novel 440 MHz wireless SAW microsensor

Al
LiNbO3
PR

(a)

(b)

(e)
Ni

(f )
(c)

(d )

(g)

Figure 3. Fabrication procedure for the integrated sensor.

(a) Aluminum patterning on LiNbO3 for the IDT and reflector,
(b) PR patterning for electroplating, (c) electroplating of nickel,
(d) PR removal, (e) aluminum deposition on LiNbO3 for the ID tag
and temperature sensor, ( f ) aluminum patterning for the IDT and
reflectors and (g) wafer bonding with a conductive silver paste.
Table 1. Simulated parameters of the integrated sensor in COM
modeling.

IDT finger pairs

SAW acoustic tracks
Reflector types
Acoustic aperture ()
Substrate
IDT metal material

Top pressure
sensor

Device on bottom
substrate

10
1
Shorted circuit
grating with
three metal strips
80
41 YX-LiNbO3
Aluminum

10
2
Shorted circuit
grating with
three metal strips
80
41 YX-LiNbO3
Aluminum

pairs), the device with the smallest number of IDT finger pairs
provided the highest S/N ratio of the reflection peaks in the
time domain, because a larger number of finger pairs induces
a stronger SAW radiation force, but at the same time the loss
is also increased by the increase in SAW dampening due to
excessive mass loading, and the increase in self-reflection and
static IDT capacitance. In addition, the larger IDT finger
pair number enlarges the bandwidth in the frequency domain,
which results in the broader reflection peaks. Therefore, the
smaller IDT finger pair number can sharpen the reflected peaks
effectively. (2) A shorted-grating reflector can reduce the
spurious signals effectively due to almost zero self-reflection
and strong reflectivity, compared with IDT-type reflectors and
bar-type reflectors. (3) Equal amplitude for all the reflection
peaks can be obtained by appropriate control of the reflector
aperture and propagation path length. (4) Multiple acoustic
tracks can significantly reduce the multi-reflection between the
reflectors.

4. Fabrication
Figure 3 shows schematic diagrams for the fabrication
procedure. For the pressure sensor, first 4 41 YX LiNbO3
piezoelectric substrate with 350 m thickness was cleaned in
thick
acetone and rinsed in de-ionized (DI) water. 1500 A
aluminum was deposited using an electron beam evaporator.
Then, 1 m thick photoresist (PR) was spin-coated, exposed

and then patterned for the IDT and three reflectors. In

general, SAW piezoelectric substrates are anisotropic. SAW
propagations are not constant in all directions. SAW velocity is
either a maximum or a minimum along a particular propagation
direction. Alignment of the IDT pattern with the required Xdirection (X-axis wave propagation) was performed during
the PR lithography process. Aluminum was wet-etched
in 4H3PO4:1HNO3:4CH3COOH:1H2O etchant (figure 3(a)).
The PR was dissolved in acetone. Several rinses with DI
water were performed to remove any unwanted products.
A 10 m thick PR was spin-coated, exposed and then
patterned for the seed layer in the following electroplating
thick Ti/Au layer was deposited using an
process. A 2500 A
electron beam evaporator. The PR was dissolved in acetone
for 2 h for lift-off processing. A 20 m thick PR was spincoated, exposed and then patterned for the desired shape of
nickel poles (figure 3(b)). Ni electroplating was performed for
20 h to form 150 m thick poles (figure 3(c)). Processing
parameters were carefully controlled to obtain high quality
nickel poles. After electroplating, the PR was dissolved
in acetone for 2 h (figure 3(d)). Lateral expansion of the
nickel pole was observed because only a 20 m thick PR
structure was patterned before electroplating. Further thick
PR patterning can improve this lateral expansion problem, but
it can also damage the IDT and reflector patterns. Next, the
substrate was dicing-sawed for wafer bonding and package.
For the ID tag and temperature sensor, another 41 YX
LiNbO3 piezoelectric substrate with 350 m thickness was
thick
cleaned in acetone and rinsed in DI water. 1500 A
aluminum was deposited using the electron beam evaporator
(figure 3(e)). Then, a 1 m thick PR was spin-coated, exposed
and then patterned for IDT and reflectors. Aluminum was
wet-etched. The PR was dissolved in acetone (figure 3( f )).
The substrate was dicing-sawed. The two substrates were
bonded with a conductive silver paste to complete the device
(figure 3(g)). A two-dimensional planar antenna (45 mm
45 mm) with 440 MHz central frequency and 21 MHz
bandwidth was fabricated using 8 mil thick RO4003 substrate
(dielectric constant k = 3.38). The soldering was performed
for electrical connection between the fabricated SAW device
and antenna.

5. Results
5.1. Fabricated device
Figure 4 shows optical microscope and scanning electron
microscopy (SEM) views of the fabricated devices. The IDTs
on the top and bottom substrates have the same dimension
and structure. The IDT finger pairs were 10, the width was
2.4 m, the thickness was 0.15 m and overlapping aperture
was 796 m. For the pressure sensor, three shorted-gratingtype reflectors were arranged in a row on the top substrate.
The distance between the IDT and the first reflector was
7.11 mm, and the distance between the IDT and the third
reflector was about 9.499 mm. The ratio of the first-to-second
reflector distance to the second-to-third reflector distance was
5 to minimize the temperature dependence effect. The ID tag
and temperature sensor were located on the bottom substrate,
in which eight shorted-grating reflectors for the ID tag and
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K Lee et al

IDT

ID tag reflectors

Reflectors for

Simulated results
Experimental results

temperature sensor

S11(dB)

-20

-40

-60

(a)
-80

Reflectors for
pressure sensor
-100
0

Time (us)

Figure 6. Comparison between experimentally measured reflection

peaks and simulated peaks in the case of no compression force and
at room temperature.

5.2. RF wireless testing

2.4 m

(b)

(c)

Figure 4. Optical and SEM views of the fabricated devices. (a) Top
view of the ID tag and temperature sensor, (b) flip-over view of the
pressure sensor and (c) bonded devices.

three shorted-grating reflectors for the temperature sensor were

structured. Two substrates were bonded with a conductive
silver paste. The air gap between the two substrates was
150 m.

The reflection coefficient S11 was measured using an HP

8510 network analyzer and a Cascade probe station. Two
antennas with 440 MHz central frequency were fabricated.
One antenna was connected to the S11 port of the network
analyzer and the other was connected to the integrated
microsensor (figure 5). Under no compression force and at
room temperature, eight sharp reflection peaks from ID tag
reflectors, three peaks from the temperature sensor and three
peaks from the pressure sensor were observed in a row in
the time domain (figure 6). The x-axis is the travel time of
the impulse and the y-axis is the averaged reflection over the
frequency ranges. A large S/N ratio, sharp peaks and clear
distinction between peaks were observed. The first reflection
peak occurred at 1 s, and at that point S11 was 43 dB. All the
reflected peaks were well matched with the predicted values
from the simulation (figure 6). These results suggest that all
the device parameters had good impedance matching with the
propagating SAW.
To study the effects of resistance and inductance values
from 150 m Ni poles on device performance, the RF testing
results of the completed device were compared with the results
obtained before wafer bonding. All the results were the same,

SAW sensor
Antenna
Figure 5. Measurement setup using the network analyzer.

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A novel 440 MHz wireless SAW microsensor

2200

2000
-20

1800

Phase difference (o)

S11 (dB)

1600
-40

-60

-80

-100
0

0.5

1.5

2.5

1400
1200
1000
800
600
400

Time (us)

200

(a)

0
20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

200

Temperature (oC)

S11 (dB)

-20

Figure 8. Phase angle shifts in terms of temperature change.

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-80

-100
0

Time (us)

(b)
0

S11 (dB)

-20

5.2.1. ID tag. With 10 mW RF power from the network

analyzer and a 30 cm request distance, eight sharp ON
reflection peaks were observed (figure 6). Clear separation
between the reflection peaks was observed. The time interval
between the IDT and the 1st reflector was 1 s. This allowed
adequate separation between environmental noise echoes and
reflector peaks, because all the environment echoes fade away
within 1 s. All the reflection peaks in the time domain were
well matched with the predicted values. Intensity was a little
decreased due to the attenuation of the SAW on its propagation
path. No clear multi-reflection and resultant spurious peaks
were observed.

-40

-60

-80

-100
0

Time (us)

(c)

Figure 7. (a) The reflection coefficient S11 of the ID tag and

temperature sensor measured before wafer bonding. (b) S11 of the
pressure sensor measured before wafer bonding and (c) S11 of the
integrated sensor measured after wafer bonding under no diaphragm
bending.

except for a little bit of decrease in the intensity of the reflection

peaks (figure 7). For this result, we thought that an additional
experimental resistance/inductance value from the metal poles
induces some signal losses of 10 dB, but it does not affect the
time and phase shifts of the reflected peaks we are interested
in at our aimed frequency region. The RF power from the
network analyzer was varied from 40 dBm to 10 dBm
(10 mW) to find the maximum readout distance. As the
applied RF power is increased, the readout distance was also
increased. With 10 mW RF power from the network analyzer,
a 1 m readout distance was observed. Further enlargement of
the reading distance can be obtained by increasing the antenna
gain and applied RF power, and decreasing the insertion loss
of the fabricated SAW device.

5.2.2. Temperature sensor. The fabricated device was placed

on a hot plate for testing, in which the temperature was changed
from 20 C to 200 C. With 10 mW RF power from the network
analyzer and at a request distance of 30 cm, three reflection
peaks were recorded from three reflectors. Depending on
changes in temperature, the shifts (time position and phase
angle) of the reflection peaks were modulated. The phase angle
shift was used to evaluate the sensitivity because it provides
a much higher resolution than the time shift of the reflection
peak. All three reflectors showed the same sign of the phase
shifts because the temperature effects are equal on all the
reflectors. The high linearity of the phase shifts was observed
up to 200 C, as shown in figure 8. The evaluated sensitivity
was 10 C1. For these promising results, we thought that
(1) LiNbO3 with large temperature coefficient of delay (TCD)
of approximately 69 ppm C1 provides high sensitivity
to temperature variations and (2) a shorted-grating reflector
allows small spurious peaks, high reflectivity and low insertion
loss.
5.2.3. Pressure sensor. Under 10 mW RF power and at
a request distance of 30 cm, external pressure was applied
to the diaphragm by placing an object onto the center of
the diaphragm, and then the S11 parameter was measured to
extract the time and phase deviations of the reflected peaks as a
function of the amount of applied mechanical force. Shifts of
the reflected peaks were observed. The total combined phase
521

K Lee et al

25 C
o
45 C
o
65 C
o
105 C

-200

Phase shift (o)

-400
-600
-800
-1000
-1200
-1400
-1600
-1800

100

200

300

400

500

600

Pressure (kPa)

Figure 9. Phase angle shifts in terms of pressure change.

shift s from all three reflectors was obtained from equation
(6). Depending on the amount of applied external pressure,
the phase angle was modulated. For a small pressure range,
linearity was observed, while nonlinearity was observed from
350 kPa (figure 9). The sensitivity was evaluated to be about
2.9 kPa1. This value is better than other reported values.
Scherr et al reported about 2.38 kPa1 sensitivity and a linear
region up to 250 kPa [17, 20].
The long-term temperature dependence effect of the
pressure sensor was tested by measuring the phase shifts
depending on pressure under different temperature conditions
(25 C, 45 C, 65 C and 105 C). Temperature insensitivity
was observed at the 2565 C temperature range, as shown
in figure 9. However, the phase shifts at 105 C deviated
a little from the others. For this result, we thought that
for a bent diagram under the same temperature condition
the length change (L) of the diaphragm due to thermal
expansion/contraction of the piezoelectric substrate is the
same at all three reflector positions, whereas the SAW velocity
shifts (v) are different at the respective reflector positions,
resulting in nonlinearity of the phase shift at extremely
high temperature. To minimize this effect, a different
piezoelectric substrate with very low TCD (e.g., ST Quartz)
can be considered for the pressure sensor, while the ID
tag/temperature sensors are made on the same 41 YX LiNbO3
substrate.
An interference effect between the top and bottom SAW
energies was closely observed by comparing the reflected
peaks of the ID tag and temperature sensor obtained in the
case of bending of the diaphragm with the reflection peaks
obtained in the case of no diaphragm bending. Under the
same temperature condition, no noticeable differences of the
reflection peaks (in S/N ratio, sharpness, and amplitude) were
observed, suggesting that a 150 m air gap is sufficient
to avoid interference between two propagating SAWs at the
targeted pressure range.

6. Conclusion
We have presented a surface acoustic wave (SAW)-based
microsensor integrated with temperaturepressure sensors
522

and ID tag for human recognition on the floor of an

intelligent building. COM modeling was used to predict
device performance prior to fabrication. Optimal design
parameters were determined from simulations. High S/N
ratio, small signal attenuation and spurious peaks, and sharp
reflected peaks were observed from wireless network analyzer
measurements. With 10 mW RF power from the network
analyzer, a 1 m readout distance was observed. Eight sharp
ON peaks with close spacing were obtained in order to realize
a high number of ID data bit within a given limited region. The
time and phase shifts of the reflection peaks were modulated
depending on temperature. High linearity of the phase shifts
was observed up to 200 C. The evaluated sensitivity was
10 C1. When external pressure was applied to the
diaphragm from the top, a time delay of the reflected peaks
and a change in the phase angle were observed. The sensitivity
was approximately 2.9 kPa1. From these results, we suggest
that this prototype SAW-integrated sensor is very promising
for achieving wirelessly requestable and batteryless human
recognition sensor applications on an intelligent building floor.

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