Acoustic wave sensors are being developed for many emerging applications such as in semiconductor fabrication, biological diagnostics and polymer characterization. Traditional acoustic wave sensing devices such as quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) rely on polymer thin films coated on quartz plates to detect chemical and biological agents. It has been found that significant sensitivity enhancement of QCM devices can be achieved by simply attaching a polymer micropillar film onto the QCM substrate (QCM-P) to enable a unique coupled resonance between the micropillars and quartz substrate. In the present work, an equivalent circuit model integrating mechanical vibration of micropillars and electrical load impedance of piezoelectric substrate was developed to predict the frequency shift and Q-factor of the QCM-P devices when operating in air and liquid environments. In the model, the vibration of micropillars was solved simultaneously with the liquid loading on the pillar surface. The resultant hydraulic force was integrated into the circuit model to predict the load impedance on the sensor surface. The developed model was validated by experimental results for QCM-P devices operating in air and water with different micropillar heights. It will serve as a powerful tool to predict the performance of the QCM-P devices for different applications.

声波传感器正在为许多新兴应用开发，例如在半导体制造，生物诊断和聚合物表征中。传统的声波感测设备（例如石英晶体微天平（QCM））依靠涂覆在石英板上的聚合物薄膜来检测化学和生物制剂。已经发现，可以通过简单地将聚合物微柱膜附着到QCM基板（QCM-P）上来实现QCM器件的显着灵敏度提高，从而在微柱和石英基板之间实现独特的耦合共振。在目前的工作中，建立了一个等效电路模型，该模型集成了微柱的机械振动和压电基板的电负载阻抗，以预测在空气和液体环境中工作时QCM-P设备的频移和Q因子。在该模型中，微柱的振动与液体在柱子表面的加载同时得到了解决。合成的液压力被集成到电路模型中，以预测传感器表面的负载阻抗。通过在不同微柱高的空气和水中运行的QCM-P设备的实验结果验证了开发的模型。它将作为功能强大的工具来预测QCM-P设备针对不同应用的性能。解决了微柱的振动，同时将液体加载到了柱子表面。合成的液压力被集成到电路模型中，以预测传感器表面的负载阻抗。通过在不同微柱高的空气和水中运行的QCM-P设备的实验结果验证了开发的模型。它将作为功能强大的工具来预测QCM-P设备针对不同应用的性能。解决了微柱的振动，同时将液体加载到了柱子表面。合成的液压力被集成到电路模型中，以预测传感器表面的负载阻抗。通过在不同微柱高的空气和水中运行的QCM-P设备的实验结果验证了开发的模型。它将作为功能强大的工具来预测QCM-P设备针对不同应用的性能。