Transverse waveguide mode suppression for Pt-electrode SAW resonators on Quartz and LGS

Abstract

SAW resonators on ST-X quartz and langasite (LGS) [0°, 144°, 24°] are currently being used for hydrogen fluoride (HF) vapor sensing and high-temperature sensing, respectively. For these applications, the use of Pt-based electrodes allows the resonators to withstand the targeted harsh environments. This work reveals that for Pt-electrode resonators with conventional short-circuit gratings on the aforementioned quartz and LGS orientations, acoustic energy leaks from the grating region to the bus bars, thus degrading the resonator response. To resolve this problem, this paper proposes and implements open-circuit gratings for resonators fabricated with these substrate/metal combinations. The open-circuit gratings guide the acoustic energy within the grating region, resulting in greater quality factors and reduced losses in the resonator response. In addition, scalar potential theory is utilized in this work to identify transverse waveguide modes in the responses of open-circuit grating resonators on quartz and LGS. A transverse waveguide mode dispersion relation was derived to extend the scalar potential theory to account for asymmetry in the slowness curve around the propagation direction. This is the case for several commonly used LGS orientations, in particular LGS [0°, 144°, 24°]. Finally, this work addresses spurious transverse mode mitigation by scaling both the transducer's grating aperture and electrode overlap width. Open circuit grating resonators with appropriately scaled transducer designs were fabricated and tested, resulting in a 71% increase in quality factor and a spurious mode rejection of over 26 dBc for Pt-electrode devices on ST-X quartz. This progress directly translates into better frequency resolution and increased dynamic range for HF vapor sensors and high-temperature SAW devices.