Surface Acoustic Wave Interdigital Transducer Research Articles

Simultaneous Determination of Young's Modulus and Density of Ultrathin Low‐k Films Using Surface Acoustic Waves

The nondestructive testing (NDT) of mechanical properties in ultrathin low dielectric constant (low‐k) films is a major challenge in integrated circuit manufacturing. Young's modulus and density are closely related parameters for low‐k films. This study presents a method for NDT of Young's modulus and density of porous low‐k black diamond (SiOC:H, BD) films. A linear frequency modulation (LFM) surface acoustic wave (SAW) interdigital transducer (IDT) with a frequency range of 20–250 MHz is designed to generate SAW signals on the samples. The series of SAW waveforms obtained on the samples are processed to obtain experimental SAW dispersion curves across a broad frequency range. By comparing these experimental curves with theoretical dispersion curves, as well as their first‐order derivatives, Young's modulus and density of porous low‐k BD films with thicknesses of 100, 300, 500, and 1000 nm are characterized. To verify Young's modulus measurements from the SAW method, a control experiment using nanoindentation is conducted. The results demonstrate that the SAW method can reduce the impact of the substrate and is independent of the film thickness. This study presents a highly accurate measuring method for simultaneous multiparameter evaluation of ultra‐thin low‐k films.

Design for SAW Antenna-Plexers with Improved Matching Inductance Circuits.

This study designs antenna-plexers, including a surface acoustic wave (SAW) extractor and an upper- and mid-high band (UHB + MHB) diplexer, for LTE 4G and 5G bands using carrier aggregation. The SAW extractor combines a bandpass filter (BPF) and a band-stop filter (BSF) in a single unit that consists of eight modified Butterworth-van Dyke (mBVD) resonators that resonate in parallel with an inductor and SAW resonators. This BSF behaves as a high-pass filter at frequencies lower than the designed WIFI band and as a capacitor at higher frequencies. The SAW extractor meets product specifications in the frequency range 0.7 to 2.7 GHz. The UHB + MHB diplexer, which is composed of a microwave filter, a SAW filter, and a simple matching inductor, uses frequency response methods to create an RF component for 2.4 GHz + WIFI 6E applications. The design uses a SAW's interdigital transducer (IDT) structure, and the experimental results are in agreement with the simulation results, so the design is feasible.

Nondestructive Determination of Young's Modulus of Interconnecting Thin Films by a Broadband Surface Acoustic Wave‐Interdigital Transducer

A facile and rapid method for nondestructive testing (NDT) of the Young's modulus of interconnecting thin films using a broadband surface acoustic wave‐interdigital transducer (SAW‐IDT) is presented herein. A linear periodic SAW‐IDT with 20–125 MHz is designed and fabricated to excite surface acoustic wave (SAW) signals on the samples. By applying burst excitations under different frequencies, the SAW waveforms are picked up by a miniaturized piezoelectric transducer and processed by slant stack transformation. Consequently, the SAW dispersion curves over a wide frequency band are established to match the film parameters. Young's modulus of the 100 and 300 nm thickness of SiO2 films and the 800 and 1500 nm low‐k polyimide (PI) films is characterized. The nanoindentation method, as a control experiment, is also carried out to verify the accuracy of the SAW method, and the test results show that the SAW method can eliminate the effect of the substrate with higher precision. This work shows the advantage of the NDT technique by SAW‐IDT in measuring the Young's modulus of ultrathin films with low cost, controllable frequency range, and high accuracy.

S-parameter measurement-based asymmetric surface acoustic wave interdigital transducer characterization

S-parameter measurement-based asymmetric surface acoustic wave interdigital transducer characterization

Finite-element analysis of scattering parameters of surface acoustic wave bandpass filter formed on barium titanate thin film

ABSTRACTThe frequency dependence of scattering parameters of interdigital surface acoustic wave transducers placed on ferroelectric barium titanate (BaTiO3) epitaxial film in c-phase coated over magnesium oxide has been studied using the finite-element method (FEM) approach along with the perfectly matched layer (PML) technique. The interdigital transducer which has a comb-like structure with aluminum electrodes excites the mechanical wave. The distance between the fingers allows tuning the frequency properties of the wave propagation. The magnesium oxide is taken as the substrate. The two-dimensional model of two-port surface acoustic wave filter is created to calculate scattering parameters and to show how to design the fixture in COMSOLTM. Some practical computational challenges of finite element modeling of SAW devices in COMSOLTM are shown. The effect of lattice misfit strain on acoustic properties of heterostructures of BaTiO3 epitaxial film in c-phase at room temperature is discussed in present article for two low-frequency surface acoustic resonances.

Effective and rapid technique for temporal response modeling of surface acoustic wave interdigital transducers

Surface Acoustic Wave Interdigital Transducers (SAW-IDT) has a considerable application potential for characterization of properties of thin layers, coatings and functional surfaces. For optimization of these SAW-IDTs, it is necessary to study various SAW-IDT configurations by varying the number of electrodes, dimensions of the electrodes, their shapes and spacings. The finite element method (FEM) is generally used to model such transducers but results are obtained in several hours (or days). Thus it is necessary to implement effective and rapid technique for SAW-IDT modeling. In this study, we develop simulation tool based on Spatial Impulse Response model. Therefore, we reduce considerably computing time and results are obtained in a few seconds. In order to validate this method, theoretical and experimental results are compared with finite element method. The results obtained show a good concordance and confirm effectiveness of suggested method. In additional, this method requires less computer memory.

Toward efficient light diffraction and intensity variations by using wide bandwidth surface acoustic wave

We have developed acoustic-optic (AO) based display units for implementing a handheld hologram display by modulating light deflection through wide bandwidth surface acoustic wave (SAW). The developed AO device consists of a metal layer, a ZnS waveguide layer, SAW inter digital transducers (IDTs), and a screen for display. When RF power with a particular resonant frequency was applied to IDTs, SAW was radiated and interfered with confined beam propagating along ZnS waveguide layer. The AO interacted beam was deflected laterally toward a certain direction depending on Bragg diffraction condition, exited out of the waveguide layer and then directed to the viewing screen placed at a certain distance from the device to form a single pixel. The deflected angles was adjusted by modulating the center frequency of the SAW IDT (SAW grating), the RF power of SAW, and the angles between propagating light beam path along waveguide and radiating SAW. The diffraction efficiency was also characterized in terms of waveguide thickness, SAW RF input power, and aperture length. Coupling of mode (COM) modeling was fulfilled to find optimal device parameters prior to fabrication. All the parameters affecting the deflection angle and efficiency to form a pixel for a three-dimensional (3D) hologram image were characterized and then discussed.

Surface acoustic wave characterization of optical sol-gel thin layers

Controlling the thin film deposition and mechanical properties of materials is a major challenge in several fields of application. We are more particularly interested in the characterization of optical thin layers produced using sol-gel processes to reduce laser-induced damage. The mechanical properties of these coatings must be known to control and maintain optimal performance under various solicitations during their lifetime. It is therefore necessary to have means of characterization adapted to the scale and nature of the deposited materials. In this context, the dispersion of ultrasonic surface waves induced by a micrometric layer was studied on an amorphous substrate (fused silica) coated with a layer of ormosil using a sol-gel process. Our ormosil material is a silica-PDMS mixture with a variable polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) content. The design and implementation of Surface Acoustic Wave InterDigital Transducers (SAW-IDT) have enabled quasi-monochromatic Rayleigh-type SAW to be generated and the dispersion phenomenon to be studied over a wide frequency range. Young’s modulus and Poisson’s ratio of coatings were estimated using an inverse method.

A transversely coupled phononic surface acoustic wave transducer

A concept is demonstrated for the development of a phononic surface acoustic wave interdigital transducer (IDT) able to excite acoustic waves in a transverse manner with respect to the applied electric field. The basic principles of the design and fabrication of the transversely coupled phononic transducer are presented. More specifically, the IDT consists of a regular interdigital electrode configuration on which a 2D array of low profile masses is superimposed. The transversely coupled mode of excitation is explained in terms of the specific localization of the elastic energy along with the operation within the complete frequency bandgap of the composite transducer grating. The experimental results provide solid evidence for the suggested mode of operation.

Surface acoustic wave phononic crystal device fabricated by femtosecond laser ablation

AbstractFabrication of surface acoustic wave (SAW) based phononic crystal (PC) device by femtosecond laser micromachining has been demonstrated. The thin‐film interdigital SAW transducers of 50 μm wavelength together with PC structure (1‐ and 2‐dimensional) of 25 μm period were fabricated on the YZ lithium niobate crystal surface by femtosecond pulse selective ablation of an aluminum layer. The device S parameter measurements revealed different influence of 1D and 2D PC structures on the SAW propagation. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 54:1286–1287, 2012; View this article online at wileyonlinelibrary.com. DOI 10.1002/mop.26789

Development of interdigital transducer sensors for non-destructive characterization of thin films using high frequency Rayleigh waves

In this paper, Rayleigh waves were generated and studied over a broad frequency range (5-50 MHz) and from the dispersion phenomenon, two substrate on layer type-samples with thin layer thicknesses of 1 μm and 500 nm, respectively, were characterized. The originality in this paper is the use of surface acoustic wave interdigital transducers (IDT) to generate surface waves as well as the development of a measuring device enabling an accurate estimation of the phase velocity to be obtained, which is essential in order to characterize such thin layers. Considering the excitation frequencies (5-50 MHz) and therefore the widths necessary on the electrodes for these types of IDT sensors (20-200 μm), a lift-off procedure was chosen to deposit the electrodes on the lithium niobate (LiNbO(3)) piezoelectric substrates. The use of these IDT, first enabled problems of loss and attenuation linked to the high frequency of conventional sensors (wedge sensors) to be overcome and second to carry out quasi-monochromatic measurements in order to obtain an extremely accurate estimation of the phase velocity with rapid post-processing. An inverse method provided a very precise estimation of the thickness of the layers and the elastic constants of the substrate. The estimations of the thicknesses were then confirmed by measurements with a profilometer.

SAW excitation properties on YX-cut of CNGS and SNGS single crystals

The paper presents numerical results on conductances of surface acoustic wave interdigital transducers (IDTs) on YX-cut Ca(3)NbGa(3)Si(2)O(14) (CNGS) and Sr(3)NbGa(3)Si(2)O(14) (SNGS) single crystals. It is shown that there is a strong bulk acoustic wave radiation from IDTs on YX-cut of CNGS single crystal in contrast to that of SNGS single crystal.

Surface acoustic wave transducers fabricated by femtosecond laser ablation

The fabrication of surface acoustic wave (SAW) devices by femtosecond laser micromachining has been demonstrated. The interdigital SAW transducers of 50 μm wavelength were formed on YZ lithium niobate substrate by femtosecond pulse ablation of an aluminium layer. The two-port SAW device has insertion loss of 11 dB at 68 MHz. The S-parameter measurements revealed no degradation in substrate elastic, piezoelectric, and dielectric properties of the substrate due to laser processing.

Passive saw-based hydrogen sensor and system

A hydrogen detecting system is characterized by a passive surface acoustic wave (SAW) sensor. The sensor includes a piezoelectric substrate having a self assembled monolayer arranged on at least a portion of the substrate to create a hydrophobic surface. A palladium nanocluster thin film is deposited on the monolayer and an interdigital SAW transducer is disposed upon the piezoelectric substrate for conversion of an RF signal into an acoustic wave and vice versa. At least one additional SAW element is also disposed on the substrate and spaced from the SAW transducer. The SAW element receives a signal from the SAW transducer and produces a response signal. The response signal is modified by the palladium nanocluster film due to a change in conductivity of the palladium nanocluster film upon exposure to hydrogen. This change in the response signal is measured by an interrogator, and yields a measure of the hydrogen concentration to which the sensor was exposed.

Effect of surface acoustic waves on the catalytic decomposition of ethanol employing a comb transducer for ultrasonic generation

The effect of surface acoustic waves, generated on a silver catalyst using a comb transducer, on the catalytic decomposition of ethanol is examined. The comb transducer employs purely mechanical means for surface acoustic wave (SAW) transduction. Unlike interdigital SAW transducers on piezoelectric substrates, the complicating effects of heat generation due to electromechanical coupling, high electric fields between adjacent electrodes, and acoustoelectric currents are avoided. The ethanol decomposition reactions are carried out at 473 K. The rates of acetaldehyde and ethylene production are retarded when acoustic waves are applied. The rates recover to varying degrees when acoustic excitation ceases.

Passive Wireless MEMS Microphones for Biomedical Applications

This paper introduces passive wireless telemetry based operation for high frequency acoustic sensors. The focus is on the development, fabrication, and evaluation of wireless, battery-less SAW-IDT MEMS microphones for biomedical applications. Due to the absence of batteries, the developed sensors are small and as a result of the batch manufacturing strategy are inexpensive which enables their utilization as disposable sensors. A pulse modulated surface acoustic wave interdigital transducer (SAW-IDT) based sensing strategy has been formulated. The sensing strategy relies on detecting the ac component of the acoustic pressure signal only and does not require calibration. The proposed sensing strategy has been successfully implemented on an in-house fabricated SAW-IDT sensor and a variable capacitor which mimics the impedance change of a capacitive microphone. Wireless telemetry distances of up to 5 centimeters have been achieved. A silicon MEMS microphone which will be used with the SAW-IDT device is being microfabricated and tested. The complete passive wireless sensor package will include the MEMS microphone wire-bonded on the SAW substrate and interrogated through an on-board antenna. This work on acoustic sensors breaks new ground by introducing high frequency (i.e., audio frequencies) sensor measurement utilizing SAW-IDT sensors. The developed sensors can be used for wireless monitoring of body sounds in a number of different applications, including monitoring breathing sounds in apnea patients, monitoring chest sounds after cardiac surgery, and for feedback sensing in compression (HFCC) vests used for respiratory ventilation. Another promising application is monitoring chest sounds in neonatal care units where the miniature sensors will minimize discomfort for the newborns.

Platinum and palladium high-temperature transducers on langasite

There is a pressing need for the fabrication of surface acoustic wave (SAW) devices capable of operating in harsh environments, at elevated temperature and pressure, or under high-power conditions. These SAW devices operate as frequency-control elements, signal-processing filters, and pressure, temperature, and gas sensors. Applications include gas and oil wells, high-power duplexers in communication systems, and automobile and aerospace combustion engines. Under these high-temperature and power-operating conditions, which can reach several hundred degrees Centigrade, the typically fabricated aluminum (A1) thin film interdigital transducer (IDT) fails due to electro and stress migration. This work reports on high temperature SAW transducers that have been designed, fabricated, and tested on langasite (LGS) piezoelectric substrates. Platinum (Pt) and palladium (Pd) (melting points at 1769 degrees C and 1554.9 degrees C, respectively) have been used as thin metallic films for the SAW IDTs fabricated. Zirconium (Zr) was originally used as an adhesion layer on the fabricated SAW transducers to avoid migration into the Pt or Pd metallic films. The piezoelectric LGS crystal, used as the substrate upon which the SAW devices were fabricated, does not exhibit any phase transition up to its melting point at 1470 degrees C. A radio frequency (RF) test and characterization system capable of withstanding 1000 degrees C has been designed and constructed. The LGS SAW devices with Pt and Pd electrodes and the test system have been exposed to temperatures in the range of 250 degrees C to 750 degrees C over periods up to 6 weeks, with the SAW devices showing a reduced degradation better than 7 dB in the magnitude of transmission coefficient, /S21/, with respect to room temperature. These results qualify the Pt and Pd LGS SAW IDTs fabricated for the above listed modern applications in harsh environments.

A circuit simulation compatible surface acoustic wave interdigital tranducer macro-model

In the present work, a surface acoustic wave (SAW) interdigital transducer (IDT) has been modeled as a resistance-inductance-capacitance (RLC) network. The model includes the effects of metal shorting and energy storage at metal discontinuities, as well as an arbitrary polarity sequence of fingers. A C++ program generates the equivalent electrical circuit, which is directly simulated by Simulation Program with Integrated Circuit Emphasis (SPICE), a popular electrical circuit simulator. Simulations compare well with reported experimental results, validating the proposed model.

Optimization of broadband uniform beam profile interdigital transducers weighted by assignment of electrode polarities.

This paper considers techniques for optimizing surface acoustic wave (SAW) interdigital transducers (IDTs) with uniform electrode length (no apodization). Unlike other optimization techniques developed for this type of IDT, the algorithms proposed here choose the best electrode structure on the basis of how well it meets the specifications, not in the time domain, but in the frequency domain directly. In the first step of the optimization, a periodic transducer is synthesized. The weighting technique for providing a desired frequency response involves assigning polarities to the individual electrodes. The next step of the IDT selectivity improvement is the optimization of the electrode positions. In addition, the second algorithm can synthesize specified nonsymmetric frequency responses. A set of IDTs and SAW filters with bandwidths of 1 to 14% has been designed using this algorithm.

Optimization of broadband withdrawal weighted interdigital transducers for high selective SAW filters

The problem under discussion is the design of highly selective broadband surface acoustic wave (SAW) interdigital transducers (IDT) with uniform electrodes. In most SAW filters, such transducers are used with apodized IDTs or instead of them. The proposed optimization algorithms are intended for improvement of IDT selectivity by means of a withdrawal weighting (WW) technique. Unlike the familiar methods of WW transducer optimization, these algorithms choose the best IDT structure on the basis of how well it meets the specifications, not in the time but in frequency domain directly. This approach is more effective for broadband WW transducers. A number of SAW filters have been designed using the described algorithms. Their experimental characteristics follow: bandwidths of 0.5 to 15%, stopband rejection of 40 to 50 dB, 3 dB/40 dB shape factors of 1.07 to 1.3.