Design and Application of SAW Sensors
A special issue of Sensors (ISSN 1424-8220). This special issue belongs to the section "Physical Sensors".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 October 2025 | Viewed by 161
Special Issue Editors
Interests: SAW sensor simulation; laser Doppler vibrometry
Interests: piezo-sensors; laser Doppler vibrometry; material science; piezo-sensors simulation; manufacturing and characterization
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Almost 60 years ago, the invention of the interdigital transducer revolutionized technology by enabling the conversion of microwaves into surface elastic vibrations, making radio frequency signals manageable—almost as if they were “touchable by hand”. The small size and planar fabrication technology inherent to this approach promoted the great market success of surface acoustic wave (SAW) devices for RF filtering and signal processing. Simultaneously, these SAWs, which can be manipulated using digitated transducing or reflecting arrays and coupling configurations, are highly sensitive to environmental conditions. While this sensitivity was initially seen as a limitation in telecommunication components, it became the cornerstone of highly effective sensing technologies.
Today, SAW sensors, intrinsically capable of wireless and passive operation and highly sensitive due to their functionalization with sensitive layers, hold an uncontested place in emerging ecosystems such as IoT, environmental monitoring, healthcare, robotics, and mobility. Despite their relative technological maturity, their application is limited by their high manufacturing costs, durability, selectivity, and resistance to environmental factors. Precise calibration and the optimization of sensitivity optimization are two additional topics related to biochemical sensing and skin-like electronics. Thus, further collaborative research is essential in order to provide reliable, low-power, and cost-effective SAW sensors that meet the demands of modern applications.
This Special Issue enables experts actively engaged in the development of SAW sensor technology—including conceptual design and applications in chemical and physical sensing—to share their research via original papers or reviews. The scope of this Special Issue includes, but is not limited to, the following topics:
Dr. Nikolay Smagin
Dr. Etienne Herth
Guest Editors
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Keywords
- advancements in SAW sensor design and fabrication techniques
- SAW sensors for chemical and biological detection
- wireless and passive SAW sensor systems
- flexible and wearable SAW sensors
- high-temperature and harsh environment SAW sensors
- SAW sensors in microfluidics and lab-on-a-chip systems
- material innovations for enhanced SAW sensor performance
- calibration techniques and sensitivity optimization in SAW sensors
- SAW sensors for environmental monitoring
- emerging applications of SAW sensors in robotics and mobility
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