Abstract
A tunable acoustic biosensor for investigating the properties of biomolecules at the solid–liquid interfaces is described. In its current, format the device can be tuned to frequencies between 6.5 MHz and 1.1 GHz in order to provide a unique detection feature: a variable evanescent wave thickness at the sensor surface. The key to its successful implementation required the careful selection of antennae designs that could induce shear acoustic waves at the solid–liquid interface. This non‐contact format makes it possible to recover resonant shear acoustic waves over 100 different harmonic frequencies as a result of the electrical characteristics of the spiral coil. For testing this multifrequency sensing concept the surface of a quartz disc was exposed to solutions of immunoglobulin G (IgG) to form an adsorbed monolayer, whence protein A and IgG were added again in order to form multilayers. Spectra at frequencies between 6 and 600 MHz were generated for each successive layer and revealed two characteristic phases: an initial phase at the low megahertz frequencies consistent with the conventional Sauerbrey relation, and a possible additional phase towards the high megahertz to gigahertz frequencies, that we believe relates to the structure of the biomolecular film. This two‐phase behaviour evident from differences between high and low frequencies, rather than from any distinct frequency transition, was anticipated from the reduction in evanescent wave thickness down to nanometre dimensions, and thin film resonance phenomena that are known to occur for film and fluid systems. These measurements suggested that the single element acoustic biosensor we present here may form the basis from which to generate acoustic molecular spectra, or ‘acoustic fingerprints’, in a manner akin to optical spectroscopy. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.