Kuo, Nai-Kuei
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Publication Demonstration of Inverse Acoustic Band Gap Structures in AlN and Integration with Piezoelectric Contour Mode Transducers(2009-06-01) Kuo, Nai-Kuei; Zuo, Chengjie; Piazza, GianlucaThis paper presents the first design and demonstration of a novel inverse acoustic band gap (IABG) structure in aluminum nitride (AlN) and its direct integration with piezoelectric contour-mode transducers. The experimental results indicate that the IABG structure has a stop band from 185 MHz to 240 MHz and is centered around 219 MHz with maximum rejection of 30 dB. The ABG-induced phonon scattering causes a frequency band gap that prohibits the propagation of certain acoustic wavelengths. In this work, the IABG unit cell consists of a high acoustic velocity (V) center material, which is formed by 2-μm-thick AlN sandwiched by 200-nm-thick platinum (Pt) and is held by four thin tethers and surrounded by a low acoustic velocity material (air). This cell arrangement enlarges the frequency band gap and eases the requirements on the thickness (d) to lattice constant (a) ratio, which was imposed by previous ABG demonstration in the very high frequency range. The finite element method (FEM) analysis indicates that the IABG can produce a gap-to-midgap ratio of 13.5% even when the d/a ratio is as small as 0.23. This advantage further allows the direct integration of the IABG with high frequency bulk acoustic wave (BAW) transducers.Publication Demonstration of Inverse Acoustic Band Gap Structures in AlN and Integration with Piezoelectric Contour Mode Wideband Transducers(2009-04-01) Kuo, Nai-Kuei; Zuo, Chengjie; Piazza, GianlucaThis paper presents the first design and demonstration of a novel inverse acoustic band gap (IABG) structure in aluminum nitride (AlN) and its direct integration with contour-mode wideband transducers in the Very High Frequency (VHF) range. This design implements an efficient approach to co-fabricate in-plane AlN electro-acoustic transducers with bulk acoustic waves (BAWs) IABG arrays (10x10). The IABG unit cell consists of a cylindrical high acoustic velocity (V) media, which is held by four thin tethers, surrounded by a low acoustic velocity matrix (air). The center media is formed by 2-μm-thick AlN, which is sandwiched by 200-nm-thick top and bottom platinum (Pt) layers. The experimental results indicate that the designed IABG has a stop band from 185 MHz to 240 MHz and is centered at 218 MHz in the Γ-Χ direction. This demonstration not only confirms the existence of the frequency band gap in the IABG structure, but also opens possibilities for the integration of ABG structures with RF MEMS devices.Publication Microscale inverse acoustic band gap structure in aluminum nitride(2009-09-02) Kuo, Nai-Kuei; Zuo, Chengjie; Piazza, GianlucaThis work presents the design and demonstration of a microscale inverse acoustic band gap (IABG) structure in aluminum nitride (AlN) with a frequency stop band for bulk acoustic waves in the very high frequency range. Conversely to conventional microscale acoustic band gaps, the IABG is formed by a two-dimensional periodic array of unit cells consisting of a high acoustic velocity material cylinder surrounded by a low acoustic velocity medium. The periodic arrangement of the IABG array induces scattering of incident acoustic waves and generates a stop band, whose center frequency is primarily determined by the lattice constant of the unit cell and whose bandwidth depends on the cylinder radius, the film thickness, and the size of the tethers that support the cylinder. A wide band gap (>13% of the center frequency) is formed by the IABG even when thin AlN films are used. The experimental response of an IABG structure having a unit cell of 8.6 µm and an AlN film thickness of 2 µm confirms the existence of a frequency band gap between 185 MHz and 240 MHz.