Harnessing a Vibroacoustic Mode for Enabling Smart Functions on Surface Acoustic Wave Devices -- Application to Icing Monitoring and Deicing

Abstract: Microacoustic wave devices are essential components in the RF electronics and MEMS industry with increasing impact in various sensing and actuation applications. Reliable and smart operation of acoustic wave devices at low costs would cause a crucial advancement. Herein, we present the enablement of temperature and mechanical sensing capabilities in a Rayleigh-mode standing surface acoustic wave (sSAW) chip device by harnessing an acoustic shear plate wave mode using the same set of electrodes. Most importantly, this mode is excited by switching the polarity of the sSAW transducer electrodes by simple electronics, allowing for direct and inexpensive compatibility with an existing setup. We validated the method in the emergent topic of surface de-icing by continuously monitoring temperature and water liquid-solid phase changes using the plate wave mode, and on-demand Rayleigh-wave deicing with a negligible energy cost. The flexibility for adapting the system to different scenarios, loads and scalability opens the path to impact in lab-on-a-chip, IoT technology, and sectors requiring autonomous acoustic wave actuators.