Validation of a Phase-Mass Characterization Concept and Interface for Acoustic Biosensors

Acoustic wave resonator techniques are widely used in in-liquid biochemical applications. The main challenges remaining are the improvement of sensitivity and limit of detection, as well as multianalysis capabilities and reliability. The sensitivity improvement issue has been addressed by increasing the sensor frequency, using different techniques such as high fundamental frequency quartz crystal microbalances (QCMs), surface generated acoustic waves (SGAWs) and film bulk acoustic resonators (FBARs). However, this sensitivity improvement has not been completely matched in terms of limit of detection. The decrease on frequency stability due to the increase of the phase noise, particularly in oscillators, has made it impossible to increase the resolution. A new concept of sensor characterization at constant frequency has been recently proposed based on the phase/mass sensitivity equation: ¿¿/¿m ¿ -1/m L, where m L is the liquid mass perturbed by the resonator. The validation of the new concept is presented in this article. An immunosensor application for the detection of a low molecular weight pollutant, the insecticide carbaryl, has been chosen as a validation model. © 2011 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.The authors are grateful to the Spanish Ministry of Science and Technology the financial support to this research under contract reference AGL2009-13511, and to the company Advanced Wave Sensors S.L. (www.awsensors.com) for the help provided in the development of some parts of this work.Montagut, Y.; García Narbón, JV.; Jiménez Jiménez, Y.; March Iborra, MDC.; Montoya Baides, Á.; Arnau Vives, A. (2011). Validation of a Phase-Mass Characterization Concept and Interface for Acoustic Biosensors. Sensors. 11(5):4702-4720. https://doi.org/10.3390/s110504702S47024720115Cote, G. L., Lec, R. M., & Pishko, M. V. (2003). Emerging biomedical sensing technologies and their applications. 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