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Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) is a broad-spectrum tumor marker used in clinical applications. The primarily clinical method for measuring CEA is based on chemiluminescence in serum during enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) in 96-well plates. However, this multi-step process requires large and expensive instruments, and takes a long time. In this study, a high-throughput centrifugal microfluidic device was developed for detecting CEA in serum without the need for cumbersome washing steps normally used in immunoreactions. This centrifugal microdevice contains 14 identical pencil-like units, and the CEA molecules are separated from the bulk serum for subsequent immunofluorescence detection using density gradient centrifugation in each unit simultaneously. To determine the optimal conditions for CEA detection in serum, the effects of the density of the medium, rotation speed, and spin duration were investigated. The measured values from 34 clinical serum samples using this high-throughput centrifugal microfluidic device showed good agreement with the known values (average relative error = 9.22%). These results indicate that the high-throughput centrifugal microfluidic device could provide an alternative approach for replacing the classical method for CEA detection in clinical serum samples.

In this paper, we present the design of an integrated temperature and strain dual-parameter sensor based on surface acoustic waves (SAWs). First, the COMSOL Multiphysics simulation software is used to determine separate frequencies for multiple sensors to avoid interference from their frequency offsets caused by external physical quantity changes. The sensor consists of two parts, a temperature-sensitive unit and strain-sensitive unit, with frequencies of 94.97 MHz and 90.05 MHz, respectively. We use standard photolithography and ion beam etching technology to fabricate the SAW temperature–strain dual-parameter sensor. The sensing performance is tested in the ranges 0–250 °C and 0–700 μԑ. The temperature sensor monitors the ambient temperature in real time, and the strain sensor detects both strain and temperature. By testing the response of the strain sensor at different temperatures, the strain and temperature are decoupled through the polynomial fitting of the intercept and slope. The relationship between the strain and the frequency of the strain-sensitive unit is linear, the linear correlation is 0.98842, and the sensitivity is 100 Hz/μԑ at room temperature in the range of 0–700 μԑ. The relationship between the temperature and the frequency of the temperature-sensitive unit is linear, the linearity of the fitting curve is 0.99716, and the sensitivity is 7.62 kHz/°C in the range of 25–250 °C. This sensor has potential for use in closed environments such as natural gas or oil pipelines.

In the harsh environment of high temperature and high rotation, a single parameter is difficult to satisfy the multi-parameter test requirements of aerospace metallurgy. Therefore, a multi-parameter coplanar integrated surface acoustic wave (SAW) sensor based on Langasite (LGS) is proposed. In this paper, the optimal cut for different measurement parameters is analyzed, and the optimal cut to temperature, pressure and vibration are obtained. The simulation results show that (0°, 138.5°, 25°) LGS has superior second-order temperature sensitivity, the edge of the rectangular sealed cavity is more suitable for pressure sensors, and the optimal cut is (0°, 138.5°, 30°). The stress of the vibration sensor cantilever beam is mainly concentrated on the edge of the fixed end, and the optimal cut is (0°, 138.5°, 35°). Based on the optimal sensitive tangential direction of each sensitive element and the symmetry of the Langasite wafer, the reasonable layout of the coplanar integrated structure with the three parameters of temperature, pressure and vibration is determined. Moreover, according to the optimal orientation selection and reasonable structure layout of each parameter, combined with frequency separation rules, the parameters of interdigital electrode were determined, and the idea of multi-parameter integrated design was simulated and verified.

We proposed a novel Langasite (LGS) bonding method only using high temperature to solve the manufacturing difficulty of the sealed microcavity of pressure sensors. The optimal bonding parameters by comparative experiments were defined as 1350 °C for 3 h. Due to simple experimental conditions, low experimental cost, and be suitable for bonding wafers with various sizes, the method is convenient for popularization and mass-production, thus promoting the development of surface acoustic wave (SAW) devices at high temperatures. Simultaneously, an intact microcavity was observed by scanning electron microscopy, and a tight and void-free bonding interface with a transition layer thickness of 2.2 nm was confirmed via transmission electron microscopy. The results of tensile and leakage experiments indicated that the bonded wafer with the sealed microcavity exhibited a high bonding strength of 4.02 MPa and excellent seal performance. Compared to the original wafer, the piezoelectric constant of the LGS bonded wafer had a reduction of only 4.43%. The above characteristics show that the sealed microcavity prepared by this method satisfies the conditions for fabricating the LGS SAW pressure sensors. Additionally, based on the bonding interface characterizations, the mechanism of LGS bonding has been investigated for the first time.

Performing high-temperature measurements on the rotating parts of aero-engine systems requires wireless passive sensors. Surface acoustic wave (SAW) sensors can measure high temperatures wirelessly, making them ideal for extreme situations where wired sensors are not applicable. This study reports a new SAW temperature sensor based on a langasite (LGS) substrate that can perform measurements in environments with temperatures as high as 1300 °C. The Pt electrode and LGS substrate were protected by an AlN passivation layer deposited via a pulsed laser, thereby improving the crystallization quality of the Pt film, with the function and stability of the SAW device guaranteed at 1100 °C. The linear relationship between the resonant frequency and temperature is verified by various high-temperature radio-frequency (RF) tests. Changes in sample microstructure before and after high-temperature exposure are analyzed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The analysis confirms that the proposed AlN/Pt/Cr thin-film electrode has great application potential in high-temperature SAW sensors.