Patent ID: 7914740
Filing Date: 2011-03-29
Classification: B82Y,G01N,Y10T

Abstract:
1. A system for the detection of a target molecule in a solution comprising: a substrate, on which is attached a pair of film bulk acoustic resonators (FBARs) consisting of a test FBAR and a reference FBAR, each FBAR comprising a layer of piezoelectric material sandwiched between two electrodes, wherein at least one electrode of each FBAR has an exposed surface and the exposed surface of the test FBAR electrode comprising a layer of functionalized biomolecules that react with the target molecule; each said FBAR being mounted on an insulator comprising a semiconductive layer and first and second, spaced apart insulating layers, said FBAR having a first edge contacting said first insulating layer and a second edge contacting said second insulating layer, wherein said semiconductive layer, said spaced apart insulating layers, and said FBAR define a void region therebetween, and a control circuit comprising a signal generator circuit that applies an excitation signal having a plurality of frequencies to the two electrodes of each of the pair of FBARs, and a processing circuit that measure and compare the impedances of the test and reference FBARs to the frequencies of the excitation signal, such that a mass, or an electrostatic charge or both, of the target molecules that have specifically reacted with the biomolecules causes a difference between the impedances of test and reference FBARs, wherein the system is configured to detect the target molecules comprising biological molecules in a liquid sample.