. Fullydisposable multilayered phononic crystal liquid sensor with symmetry reduction and a resonant cavity. Measurement: Journal of the International Measurement Confederation, 102, pp. 20-25. doi: 10.1016Confederation, 102, pp. 20-25. doi: 10. /j.measurement.2017 This is the accepted version of the paper.This version of the publication may differ from the final published version. Permanent b s t r a c tPhononic crystals are artificial structures with unique capabilities to control the transmission of acoustic waves. These novel periodic composite structures bring new possibilities for developing a fundamentally new sensor principle that combines features of both ultrasonic and resonant sensors. This paper reports the design, fabrication and evaluation of a phononic crystal sensor for biomedical applications, especially for its implementation in point of care testing technologies. The key feature of the sensor system is a fully-disposable multi-layered phononic crystal liquid sensor element with symmetry reduction and a resonant cavity. The phononic crystal structure consists of eleven layers with high acoustic impedance mismatch. A defect mode was utilized in order to generate a well-defined transmission peak inside the bandgap that can be used as a measure. The design of the structures has been optimized with simulations using a transmission line model. Experimental realizations were performed to evaluate the frequency response of the designed sensor using different liquid analytes. The frequency of the characteristic transmission peaks showed to be dependent on the properties of the analytes used in the experiments. Multi-layered phononic crystal sensors can be used in applications, like point of care testing, where the on-line measurement of small liquid samples is required.

Phononic crystals are resonant structures with great potential to be implemented in applications as liquid sensors. The use of the symmetry reduction technique allows introducing relevant transmission features inside bandgaps by creating defect modes in a periodic regular structure. These features can be used as measures to quantify changes in the speed of sound of liquid samples that could be related to the concentration of analytes or the presence of pathogens among other interesting applications. In order to be able to implement this new technology in more challenging applications, such as biomedical applications, it is necessary to have a very precise and accurate measurement. Changes in temperature greatly affect the speed of sound of the liquid samples, causing errors in the measurements. This article presents a phononic crystal sensor that, by introducing additional defect modes, can carry out differential measurements as a temperature compensation mechanism. Theoretical studies using the transmission line model and analytes at various temperatures show that the proposed temperature compensation mechanism enhances the performance of the sensor in a significant way. This temperature compensation strategy could also be implemented in crystals with different topologies.

This is the accepted version of the paper.This version of the publication may differ from the final published version. Permanent repository link:

We report on first steps towards a phononic crystal sensor for biomedical applications. Phononic crystals and metamaterials allow for unprecedented control of sound propagation. The classical ultrasonic sensors, acoustic microsensors and MEMS resonator sensors face severe limitations when applying them to small volume liquid analytes. Phononic crystal sensors are a new concept following the route of photonic crystal sensors. Basically, the material of interest, here a liquid analyte confined in a cavity of a phononic crystal having a solid matrix constitutes one component of the phononic crystal. In an application as chemical sensor the value of interest, let’s say the concentration of a toxic compound in liquid, is related to acoustic properties of the liquid in the cavity. A change in the concentration causes measurable changes in the properties of the phononic crystal. Transmission or reflection coefficients are appropriate parameters for measurement. Specifically, a resonance induced well separated transmission peak within the band gap is the most favorable feature. The sensor scheme therefore relies on the determination of the frequency of maximum transmission as measure of concentration. Promising applications like biomedical sensors, point-of-care diagnostics or fast screening introduce further engineering challenges, specifically when considering a disposable element containing the analyte. The three key challenges are the strong restriction coming from limitations to approved materials for the analyte container, geometric dimensions in the mm-range common in hospital or point-of-care environment and acoustic coupling between sensor platform and analyte container.