Surface acoustic wave (SAW) devices used for biological species detection suffer from fouling that result from binding of non-specific protein molecules to the device surface. Non-specific binding dramatically reduces the sensitivity and selectivity of biosensors. Fluid motion induced from high intensity sound waves is called acoustic streaming. The acoustic streaming phenomenon can be used to remove these non-specifically bound proteins to allow reuse of SAW devices. Focused interdigital transducers (FIDTs) based on concentric wave surfaces can excite surface acoustic waves (SAW) with high intensity, high beam-width compression ratio and small localized area. The excited waves can be utilized to enhance the streaming induced removal of fouling proteins leading to highly sensitive biosensors.
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