Multilayer Integrated Film Bulk Acoustic Resonators

Multilayer Integrated Film Bulk Acoustic Resonators
Yafei Zhang • Da Chen
Multilayer Integrated Film

Bulk Acoustic Resonators
123
Dr. Yafei Zhang Dr. Da Chen
Research Institute of Micro/Nano, Qingdao Key Laboratory of Terahertz
Science & Technology Technology
Shanghai Jiao Tong University Shandong University of Science
Shanghai and Technology
China, People’s Republic Qingdao
China, People’s Republic
ISBN 978-3-642-31775-0 ISBN 978-3-642-31776-7 (eBook)

DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-31776-7
Springer Heidelberg New York Dordrecht London
Jointly published with Shanghai Jiao Tong University Press, Shanghai

ISBN: 978-7-313-08736-2 Shanghai Jiao Tong University Press, Shanghai
Library of Congress Control Number: 2012945306
© Shanghai Jiao Tong University Press, Shanghai and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013
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Preface
The growth of the telecommunication industry has accelerated the development of

a variety of radiofrequency (RF) devices. With the rapid development of wireless
communication systems such as satellite, navigation, and internet telephony, com-
munication applications demand ever larger bandwidth, faster data transmission,
higher frequency resonators and densities. Traditional ceramic dielectric filters
cannot be integrated with circuits due to their large volume. With the recent
advance and development of nanoscale technology and processing, new types of
functional thin film materials and devices are pushing the frontier of micro-nano
system technology for their performance, particularly for frequency controllers.
One promising technology is the film bulk acoustic resonator (FBAR) technology,
made from advanced piezoelectric and ferroelectric thin-film integrated structures,
which produce a high Q factor and a high electromechanical coupling coefficient.
Compared with RFIC and MMIC integrated filters, FBAR filters offer lower cost
with superior performance.
The key of FBAR technology is the resonator, which generates bulk acoustic
wave (instead of surface acoustic wave) by piezoelectric thin films. Since bulk
acoustic waves spread energy faster than surface acoustic waves, FBAR have the
advantages of operating at high frequency (with resonant frequencies up to 10 GHz),
with small volume, high efficiency, and high Q factor. FBAR is compatible with
semiconductor technology and is easy to be integrated with the front-end filter of RF
systems. This FBAR technology enables many surface-mount microwave devices
such as small high-performance filter, oscillator, and duplexer applications. Most
notable is that these resonators have met 3G mobile communication requirements
and are proliferating into many other applications.
FBAR is based on the principle in which the wavelength of the thin film’s
bulk acoustic wave is far shorter than that of electromagnetic wave. Thus the
resonator can be thin and light, short and small. Consequently, FBAR technology
offers a totally new solution to high-frequency filters. It can meet the technological
requirement of RF filter by means of cascading multiple FBAR devices. The
volume, working frequency, and power capacity of FBAR are superior over ceramic
dielectric resonator. Thus it represents one of the most advanced acoustic resonators.
v
vi Preface
Another application of FBAR is for the high-sensitive micro-quality piezoelectric

sensor. Since the tiny surface pressure/stress change of the piezoelectric crystal
can result in a change of its resonant frequency, measuring the change of the
resonant frequency can be related to the stress change of the crystal surface.
This piezoelectric resonant sensor detects adsorbed species on the sensitized layer
attached to the piezoelectric crystal surface. Using this principle, the detection of
single molecule becomes possible.
This book is a timely monograph in the field of telecommunication technology.
With a solid foundation, accurate thesis, and concise content, this book focuses
primarily upon the basic theory, design principles, manufacture technology, and
application methods of FBAR. It is an important professional information source
and will serve as a guidance for researchers, specialists, and engineers majoring
in electronic devices, information sensing, communication systems, automation,
MEMS, and micro-device manufacturing. This book will serve as an excellent
reference book for application engineers, college teachers, and students in the
related majors.
Raytheon Professor of Physical Science and Electronics Kang L. Wang

Device Research Laboratory, UCLA
Contents
1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1 RF Filters in GHz Wireless Applications . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1.1 The Requirement of RF Filters . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1.2 Types of RF Filters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.2 Bulk Acoustic Wave (BAW) Resonator and Its Development . . . . . . . . 5
1.2.1 BAW Resonator .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.2.2 Micro Electromechanical Systems (MEMS)
Applied in BAW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.3 The Principle and Configurations of FBAR . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.3.1 The Principle of FBAR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.3.2 Typical FBAR Configurations.. . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.3.3 Current Status of FBAR Filters . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.4 The Application of FBAR in Mass Loading Sensors.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
1.4.1 Acoustic Resonant Mass Sensors . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
1.4.2 FBAR Mass Loading Sensors . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
1.5 Overview of the Chapters .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2 Propagation of Acoustic Wave in Crystals . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2.1 The Equation of Acoustic Plane Wave . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
2.1.1 The Equation of Elastic Deformation .. . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
2.1.2 Christoffel Equation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.2 Propagation of Plane Wave in Isotropic Medium... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
2.3 Propagation of Plane Wave in Anisotropic Medium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
2.3.1 Dispersion Relation and Inverse Velocity Face. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
2.3.2 The Solution of Wave Equation in Cubic Crystal . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
2.4 Piezoelectrically Active Wave Propagation .. . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
2.5 The Plane Wave Propagating in Piezoelectric Hexagonal Crystal .. . . 26
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
vii
viii Contents
3 The Theory of FBAR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

3.1 The Electric Impedance of the Ideal FBAR. . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
3.1.1 The Analytic Expression of the Electric Impedance . . . . . . . . . . 31
3.1.2 The Resonance of FBAR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
3.2 The Electric Impedance of the Compound FBAR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
3.2.1 The Definition of the Acoustic Impedance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
3.2.2 The Boundary Condition of Compound FBAR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
3.3 The Loss and Performances of FBAR . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
3.4 The Equivalent Electromechanical Mode of FBAR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
3.4.1 The Equivalent Mode of the Layers . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
3.4.2 The Universal Equivalent Mode of FBAR. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
3.4.3 The Equivalent Circuit Nears the Resonance of FBAR . . . . . . . 45
3.5 The Calculated Influence of the Materials and Structure
on the Device Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
3.5.1 The Effects of the Electrode .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
3.5.2 The Influences of Supporting Layer
and the Residue Silicon Layer . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
4 The Deposition and Etching of AlN Film . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
4.1 Deposition of AlN Film by RF Magnetron Sputtering .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
4.1.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
4.1.2 Experimental .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
4.1.3 The Effect of RF Power on the Film Texture .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
4.1.4 The Influence of Ambit Pressure and the Ratio
of N2 /Ar on the Film Structure .. . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
4.1.5 The Influence of the Substrate Temperature
on the Film Texture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
4.1.6 The Microstructure and Chemical Component .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
4.2 The Structural Characteristics of AlN Films Deposited
on Different Electrodes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
4.3 Dry Etching of AlN Films Using Fluoride Plasma .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
4.3.1 The Dry Etching of AlN Films . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
4.3.2 Experimental .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
4.3.3 The Etching Rate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
4.3.4 The Morphologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
4.3.5 The Etching Mechanism.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
4.4 The Wet Etching of AlN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
4.4.1 The Wet Etching Process .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
4.4.2 Experimental .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
4.4.3 The Influence of the Film Texture . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
4.4.4 The Effects of Crystal Quality . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Contents ix
5 The FBAR with Membrane Structure .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

5.1 The Structure and Testing Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
5.1.1 The Structure of the Device . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
5.1.2 The Testing Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
5.2 The Fabrication of Membrane Structured FBAR . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
5.3 The Preparation and Properties of PZT Film . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
5.3.1 Preparation of PZT Film Using Sol-Gel Method.. . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
5.3.2 The Structure and Properties of PZT Film.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
5.4 The Etching Process of the Films . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
5.4.1 The Etching of PZT Film . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
5.4.2 The Etching of SiO2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
5.4.3 The Etching of Si . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
5.5 The Testing Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
6 Solidly Mounted Acoustic Resonator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
6.1 The Design of SMR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
6.1.1 The Structure of SMR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
6.1.2 The Theory of the SMR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
6.1.3 The Simulation of Frequency Response for SMR. . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
6.2 The Preparation of SMR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
6.2.1 The Bragg Reflector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
6.2.2 The Fabrication of SMR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
6.2.3 The Textures and Morphologies of the AlN Films . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
6.2.4 The Stress of Multilayer Film . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
6.3 Performance Test of SMR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
6.3.1 The Parameter S11 of SMR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
6.3.2 Impedance Characteristics of SMR . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
7 The Applications of FBAR in RF Filters . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
7.1 The Topology of the FBAR Filters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
7.2 The Design of FBAR Filters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
7.2.1 The Working Principle of FBAR Filters . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
7.2.2 The Design of the FBAR Filters . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
7.2.3 The Acoustic Coupled FBAR Filter . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
7.3 The Example of a FBAR Filter for PCS CDMA . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
7.4 The Duplexer and Oscillator Based on FBAR . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
7.4.1 Duplexer Based on the FBAR . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
7.4.2 The Oscillator Based on FBAR . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
7.4.3 The Integration of FBAR in RFIC . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
8 The FBAR Excited by Lateral Filed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
8.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
8.1.1 Two Kinds of Excitation Mode in Piezoelectric Resonator .. . 110
8.1.2 Lateral Filed Excitation FBARs. . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
x Contents
8.2 Theoretical Backgrounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

8.2.1 The Excitation and Thickness Shear Mode
Wave Propagation .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
8.2.2 Electric Characteristics of LFE Resonators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
8.3 LFE FBAR Fabrication and Performances . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
8.3.1 Device Structure and Design .. . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
8.3.2 Device Fabrication .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
8.3.3 The Device Performances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
9 High Sensitive Sensors Based on FBAR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
9.1 Microbalance Sensor Based on Piezoelectric Quartz Crystal .. . . . . . . . 125
9.1.1 Quartz Crystal Microbalance .. . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
9.1.2 The Sensing Principle of Piezoelectric Crystal .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
9.1.3 Measuring Method of Piezoelectric Crystal
Resonance Sensor.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
9.2 The Sensitive Material of Piezoelectric Crystal Sensor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
9.2.1 The Requirement and Mechanism of Adsorption . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
9.2.2 Coating Methods of Sensitive Material . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
9.2.3 Application of Piezoelectric Crystal Sensor .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
9.3 Carbon Nanotubes Sensitive Material. . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
9.3.1 Adsorption Property of CNTs . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
9.3.2 Application of CNTs as Adsorbed Layer . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
9.4 Sensors Base on FBAR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
9.4.1 The Sensing Principle of FBAR. . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
9.4.2 MBVD Circuits of FBAR Sensor . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
9.4.3 Substance Testing with FBAR . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
9.4.4 Other FBAR-Based Detections . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
9.5 FBAR Sensor Coated with CNTs Sensitive Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
9.5.1 Formation Method of CNTs Selective Layer .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
9.5.2 Example of FBAR Sensor .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
9.5.3 Mass Sensitivity of Sensor Frequency .. . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
9.5.4 Frequency Response to Added Mass
of CNTs Deposition Layer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
9.5.5 The Frequency Response to CNTs Adsorption.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
Index . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
Chapter 1
Introduction
Abstract Low loss and high quality factor (Q) for filter elements are absolute
requirements in the applications in the great development in wireless data com-
munication. The filters based on LC, ceramic resonators and transmission line
resonators are difficult to meet the performance requirements when the operation
frequency increases to GHz range. Film bulk acoustic wave resonator (FBAR) is
has high performances and the compatibility to IC. In addition, FBAR is a very
promising method in view of mass loading sensors. In this chapter, an introduction
to piezoelectric bulk acoustic resonators is given. The motivation, basic principle,
configure, applications and its developments were reviewed. The performance for
filter and sensing with other resonators were compared. The overview of each
cheaper in this book is presented.
Keywords RF filters • Film bulk acoustic wave resonator • Device configure •

Mass loading sensors • Literature review • Introduction
1.1 RF Filters in GHz Wireless Applications
1.1.1 The Requirement of RF Filters
Recently, with the great development in the cellular phone, navigation system,
satellite communication and various other forms of wireless data communication,
frequency control becomes a key issue as the operation frequency is up to low
or medium GHz range. Also, in order to minimize and improve the capacity of
such systems, the development of high performance, miniature, on-chip filters
and resonators operating in the low and medium GHz frequency range is needed.
Traditionally, the RF filters refer to that work at the frequency range from 100 MHz
to 10 GHz as filters working at higher frequencies are usually called microwave
filters instead of RF filters [1–3]. The frequency range from 100 MHz to 6 GHz is
Y. Zhang and D. Chen, Multilayer Integrated Film Bulk Acoustic Resonators, 1

DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-31776-7 1,
2 1 Introduction
most suitable for medium and short-range terrestrial radio transmission in typical
urban environment as the damping is still acceptably low, antenna size is reasonable
and sufficient bandwidth can be provided. Since all suitable frequency bands
have been occupied by TV broadcasting, cellular phone system, cordless phones,
Bluetooth, wireless local area networks (WLAN) and many other applications, the
high selective RF filters become essential to avoid the interference among such
applications.
Nowadays, most of the RF filters are used in the cellular phones. For example,
in 2002, the RF filters for cellular phones accounts for 80% of the total market.
All cellular phones need RF filters to protect the sensitive receive path from
interference by transmit signals from other users and noise from various RF sources.
The minimum receive signal strength at which a phone must still operate can be
120 dB lower (a factor of 1012 in power) than the strength of interfering signals.
Therefore, highly selective RF filters are needed between antenna and preamplifier
to amplify the signals from the correct receive band. Selective RF filters are also
needed in the transmit path of cellular phone as regulations forbid the emission of
RF power outside the specified transmit band. A further application of RF filters in
cellular phone is channel selection using intermediate frequency (IF) filters in the
classical heterodyne receiver. RF filters can also be used in Global Position System
(GPS) receivers and navigation system, short-range systems such as Bluetooth
(2.45 GHz) and many data communication systems.
In these wireless applications, power consumption is a critical factor [4, 5]. An
absolute minimum current drain is a key design goal because battery weight and size
influence consumers. Thus, low loss and high quality factor (Q) for filter elements
are absolute requirements in wireless application design. The insertion loss of the
front-end bandpass filter and the noise figure of the low noise amplifier (LNA)
dominate the noise figure of a receiver. Therefore, small size, low insertion loss,
low power consumption and on-chip RF filters are very desirable.
1.1.2 Types of RF Filters
Practically all the RF filters required for the applications mentioned above are
bandpass filters. According to classical filter theory, a bandpass filter can be
implemented by electrically or mechanically coupling two or more resonators.
Each resonator in the filter structure can be any of different types, including LC
resonator, transmission line resonator, ceramic resonator, surface acoustic wave
(SAW) resonator, or bulk acoustic wave (BAW) resonator. The performance of
various front-end filter technologies at 1,575 MHz is shown in Fig. 1.1. The main
reason RF filter integration remains a challenge is the difficulty of realization a high
Q inductor on chip. The typical inductor Q in the conventional CMOS process is less
than 10. With copper metallization and a thick top metal layer far above the silicon
substrate, an inductor Q of 20 has been demonstrated. However, the insertion loss of
1.1 RF Filters in GHz Wireless Applications 3
10
MINIMUM INSERTION LOSS, (dB)

1.0
Off-Chip LC
On-Chip LC
SAW
Thin Film On-Chip Microstrip

0.1 Resonator Dielectric
Off-Chip
Stripline
0.01
0.001
0.001 0.01 0.1 1.0 10
AREA, (in2)
Fig. 1.1 Comparison of various front-end filter at 1,575 MHz
a filter implemented with an inductor Q of 20 still remains quite large. To achieve

insertion loss of only a few dBs requires a Q in the hundreds. Presently, only discrete
filters can achieve such a high Q.
1. LC resonators
Inductors (L) and capacitors (C) can be connected in networks with a certain
topology to form the filters. Lumped inductors and capacitors are used to design
IF filters because at intermediate frequencies, their parasitics are negligible and
resonator Q are fairy high. However, at the frequency higher than 0.8 GHz,
parasitics are not negligible, making it difficult to realize filter functions. For
example, when the physical length of an inductor is not a proper fraction of
a wavelength at the operating frequency, transmission line effects appear, with
accompanying frequency dependent parameters. Also, on-chip LC resonator
technology is unattractive for realizing a commercially miniature on-chip RF
filter due to the excessive volume been taken up by using of on-chip inductors
and capacitors.
2. Transmission line resonators
The resonance exhibited by open- and short-circuited lengths of transmission line
can be adopted by the filter design. For example, an open-circuited transmission
line will exhibit a parallel resonance when its electrical length is a multiple of
4 1 Introduction
œ/2; while a series resonance circuit will result when the electrical length is
an odd multiple of œ/4. At the frequency of interest, microstrips are commonly
used in filter design. The resulting device is generally too large and therefore,
unsuitable for use as a front-end bandpass filter for next generation wireless
communication applications.
3. Ceramic resonators
The ceramic filters are extensively used for RF filters in cellular phones. The
wavelength of an electromagnetic wave at 1 GHz in air is 0.3 m. In the materials
with higher dielectric "r the wavelength can be reduced by a factor of constant
p
"r . Materials with dielectric constant 10 ©r 100 are suitable for building the
filter. Materials with even higher dielectric constant tend to have too high intrinsic
losses in the frequency range of interest. Low loss high dielectric materials are
often used to significantly reduce filter volume and produce low loss bandpass
filters. The high dielectric constant of the resonator ensures that most of the
fields are contained within the dielectric. Ceramic bandpass filters are used in
many cellular front-end designs because of the filter low loss and relatively
low cost characteristics. The domain of ceramic filters is the antenna-duplexer
application in CDMA phones at 1,900 MHz because of their abilities to handle
the power capabilities and selectivity in the frequency range. Ceramic filters can
also be used in Bluetooth systems and other short range applications at higher
frequencies. However, ceramic filters cannot be integrated on silicon because
of the dimensional nature. Ceramic filters with high selectivity occupy a quite
large board space and they are usually the components with the largest height
on the printed circuit board of a cellular phone. Thus, they are unsuitable for the
application in designing miniature on-chip RF filters.
4. Surface acoustic wave resonators
The electronics industry first used acoustic wave devices in 1965 when it was
discovered that surface acoustic wave (SAW) transducers could be useful in the
design of analog filters with selected frequencies in the range of 10 MHz to
1 GHz and above. Afterwards SAW devices have been developed for consumer,
commercial, and military applications such as oscillators, resonators, sensors,
actuators, accelerometers, and microscopes. SAW filters dominate the RF filter
market today since SAW resonators are much smaller than transmission line and
ceramic resonators due to the fact that the velocity of acoustic wave is about
10,000 lower than the velocity of an electromagnetic wave. Accordingly the
acoustic wavelength is only a few microns at 1 GHz. Therefore the resonator
based on acoustic standing wave can have much smaller size. Piezoelectric ma-
terials are widely used in the acoustic wave resonators to couple energy between
electrical and mechanical domain. The mostly used piezoelectric substrates for
SAW filters are quartz, lithium niobate and lithium tantalite.
In SAW filters, the acoustic waves travel along the surface of the piezoelectric
layer in one lateral direction. Such acoustic waves are generated and picked up
by interdigital combfinger transducers, which are made of metal lines. In the
vertical direction the acoustic wave energy will not dissipate because of the quickly
1.2 Bulk Acoustic Wave (BAW) Resonator and Its Development 5
decays of the acoustic wave. The filter function is defined by the structure of the
metal lines and the gratings structures between the interdigital transducers. For the
application of the SAW filters, we have to consider several problems. The periods of
combfingers of the SAW filters have to be very small for the application at frequency
above 2 GHz.
Actually, SAW filters for frequencies above 2.5 are not available now. The second
issue we should consider is the power handling capabilities of the SAW filters at high
performance frequency. In some cases, the narrow combfingers have to carry very
large current density that causes problems such as electromigration and overheating.
SAW filters also have the disadvantage of being temperature dependent. The
temperature dependence requires the choice of a specific material that may not
yield a device with the lowest loss. The combfingers cannot be passivated and
are therefore sensitive to corrosion. Thus, the high-performance filters have to be
mounted in hermetically sealed packages. Several techniques employed to overcome
these disadvantages usually add to the overall cost of productions and make it
difficult to integrate SAW filters with silicon IC.
1.2 Bulk Acoustic Wave (BAW) Resonator

and Its Development
1.2.1 BAW Resonator
The filters can be realized using the traditional resonator technologies such as
LC, ceramic resonators and transmission line resonators connected in networks of
a certain topology. However, they become too large or are difficult to meet the
performance requirements when the operation frequency increases to GHz range.
The advantage of acoustic wave filters over electromagnetic filters is generally
recognized as their small size resulting from the approximately five orders of
magnitude reduction in the acoustic wave velocity. Bulk acoustic wave (BAW)
resonators have such unique advantages since they are at least an order of magnitude
smaller than dielectric resonators or lumped elements, and possess much lower
insertion loss than surface acoustic wave devices.
A traditional configuration of the crystal resonator is shown in Fig. 1.2a while
the Butterworth Van Dyke (BVD) equivalent circuit is shown in Fig. 1.2b. The
resonator is in the form of a simple capacitor which has a piezoelectric material
for the dielectric layer and suitable top and bottom metal electrodes. The simplified
equivalent circuit of the piezoelectric resonator has two arms. C0 is the geometric
capacitance of the structure and the Ra , La , Ca portion of the circuit is called the
“motional arm,” which arises from the mechanical vibrations of the crystal.
The series elements Ra , La , Ca which are controlled by the acoustic properties of
the device, account for the motional loss, the inertia and the elasticity respectively.
6 1 Introduction
Fig. 1.2 Crystal BAW resonator (a) Resonator structure, (b) Equivalent circuit around any primary
resonance
For traditional electroacoustic resonator technologies in the microwave region,

only the bulk single crystalline piezoelectric materials can be used. However the
choice of these materials is rather limited and they are not compatible with the
existing IC technology. Furthermore, in order to increase the operating frequency,
the only way is to decrease the dimension of the bulk materials while its acoustic
wave velocity is determined uniquely by the material properties, which will result
in the enormous increase of the fabrication cost.
1.2.2 Micro Electromechanical Systems (MEMS) Applied

in BAW
In many technical systems there is a strong trend for miniaturization of the

components and systems. On one hand, the small components and systems perform
differently so that the small systems can perform actions and functions that the large
systems cannot do. In many cases the miniaturization makes the systems more con-
venient and efficient. On the other hand, technologies derived from IC-fabrication
process allow the production of miniature components in large volumes for low
prices. Micro Electromechanical Systems (MEMS) is one of the notions used to
indicate the science of miniaturized mechanical components and systems. The term
MEMS refers to a collection of micro sensors and actuators, which can sense its
environment and have the ability to react to changes in that environment with the use
of a microcircuit control. During the past decades, many new fabrication techniques
have evolved which helped to popularize MEMS, and numerous novel devices have
been reported in diverse areas of engineering and science.
The core element in MEMS generally consists of two principal components:
a sensing or actuating element and a signal transduction unit. Micro sensors are
made to sense the trace existence and the intensity of certain physical, chemical,
or biological quantities, such as temperature, pressure, force, sound and chemical
1.3 The Principle and Configurations of FBAR 7
compositions. Micro sensors have the advantages of being sensitive and accurate
with a relative small amount of required sample substance. MEMS technology has
found broad acceptance in the field of automotive sensors and inkjet print heads in
the past 10 years. Many suppliers today offer sensors for pressure, acceleration and
mass-flow. However, compared to these relatively mature markets, the applications
of MEMS technology in the RF communication and high frequency control and
tuning fields are just emerging and developing.
In recent years, the MEMS and film deposition technologies have been in-
troduced to the BAW resonator area, which extend the application fields of
electromechanical BAW devices to GHz frequency range. Instead of attenuating
the crystal plates to micrometer thicknesses, the piezoelectric thin films can be
grown onto the specific substrate to meet the thickness requirement in resonator
fabrication. Since various piezoelectric films can be deposited on a lot of substrates
and the highly developed thin film technologies can grow piezoelectric films with
high uniformity and controlled properties on the substrates, the new film BAW
devices, called thin film acoustic wave resonator (FBAR) have more advantages
than the traditional devices. It should be pointed out that by far the greatest
potential of fabrication and performance of the BAW resonator is that it opens
the very promising possibility of integrating the traditionally incompatible IC and
electroacoustic technologies. This in turn will bring about a number of substantial
benefits such as significant decrease in the fabrication cost of the final device, easier
and simpler device design as well as increased sensitivity, reduced insertion loss,
low power consumption, small device size, reduced material use, as well as less
electromagnetic contamination.
Another very significant benefit of this integration would be the mass fabrication
of highly sensitive, low cost integrated chemical and biological sensors and
electronic tags that can be use as environmental controller and monitor. Agilent
Technologies is the first company to start mass production of discrete FBAR device.
1.3 The Principle and Configurations of FBAR
1.3.1 The Principle of FBAR
Piezoelectric thin films convert electrical energy into mechanical energy and vice
versa, depending on the device design and application. The mechanical energy
generated by an electric field is in the form of acoustic waves. A z-directed elastic
wave in a solid propagates in z-direction while molecules vibrate in z-direction
(producing stress T3 ) for a longitudinal wave, in y-direction (producing stress T4 )
for a shear wave, or in x-direction (producing stress T5 ) for a shear wave. For a
piezoelectric material, these mechanical variables (stress T or strain S) are coupled
to electrical variables (electric field E or electric displacement D). For example, for
ZnO or AlN (which has a hexagonal symmetry), the relation between stress and
electric field are expressed with following matrix equation.
8 1 Introduction
Electrode
Electric
Acoustic Piezoelectric
RF field d
wave film
Electrode
Fig. 1.3 Schematic of longitudinal wave generation and propagation in an acoustic resonator by
an electric field in the thickness direction
2 3 2 3
0 0 e31 T1
6 0 e31 7 6 7
6 0 7 2 E 3 6 T2 7
6 7 x 6 7
6 0 0 e33 7 4 6 T3 7
6 7 Ey 5 D 6 7 (1.1)
6 0 e15 0 7 6 T4 7
6 7 Ez 6 7
4 e15 0 0 5 4 T5 5
0 0 0 T6
In other words, T3 D e33 Ez , T4 D el5 Ey , and TS D e15 Ex . Thus, z-directed external

electric field excites a z-propagating longitudinal acoustic wave, while x- or y-
directed external electric field excites z-propagating shear acoustic wave.
For a particular orientation of electric field, we can produce a longitudinal acous-
tic wave that travels in the direction of the film thickness (Fig. 1.3). The acoustic
wave is reflected at the film interface due to an impedance mismatch. An acoustic
standing wave is formed when the thickness of the thin film (d) is equal to an
integer multiple of a half of the wavelength (œ). The fundamental resonant frequency
is then inversely proportional to the thickness of the piezoelectric material used,
and is equal to va /2d where va is an acoustic velocity at the resonant frequency.
The acoustic standing wave in turn modifies the electric field distribution inside
the piezoelectric film, which changes the electrical impedance of the device. Thus,
the electrical impedance of the resonator varies with frequency. Near a resonant
frequency, the impedance can be highly inductive, and can be advantageously used
for oscillator and filter applications. Extremely high Q of these electromechanical
resonators makes them very stable frequency-control devices, especially with
respect to temperature variation.
1.3.2 Typical FBAR Configurations
For FBAR, the optimal resonator design requires the acoustic wave to be confined
into the piezoelectric material layer in order to produce a very high Q device.
1.3 The Principle and Configurations of FBAR 9
a Electrode Piezoelectric film

b Electrode Piezoelectric film
Supporting layer Supporting layer
Air gap
Si
Si
c Electrode Piezoelectric film
Bragg reflector
Si
Fig. 1.4 Typical BAW resonator configurations (a) Membrane type, FBAR (b) Air gap type,
FBAR (c) SMR type
Most piezoelectric FBAR are of the thickness mode type, meaning that the bulk
acoustic wave is reflected within the piezoelectric thin film and spread in the
thickness direction. The boundary conditions require the waves to be reflected at the
surfaces, which are perpendicular to the thickness direction, with great efficiency
in order to maintain high quality factor Q. In fact, acoustic wave can travel in the
hard solid materials with a typical velocity of 5,000 m/s. As a result, the acoustic
impedance of the air is 105 times lower than that of the hard solid material and the
99.995% of the acoustic wave energy will be reflected at the solid/air interface.
For example, traditional quartz crystal resonator can trap the energy inside the
vibration plate using this method and its resonance frequency can up to 100 MHz.
For higher frequency requirement, the FBAR is one kind of solution. Some of the
principles of quartz resonator have been extended to the FBAR using in the higher
frequency region. Since the thickness of the piezoelectric film is only a few microns
or thinner, the effect of the electrodes and support layers are considerably increased
in the performance of the resonator. Several papers have been published on different
practical structures and topologies of thin film resonators including membrane type
acoustic resonator, air gap resonator, and the solidly mounted acoustic resonator
(SMR) [6].
Backside etching of the substrate is used to form the membrane type acoustic
wave resonator shown in Fig. 1.4a. The membrane structure has two air interface
reflecting surfaces that are similar to the ideal, free air structure shown in Fig. 1.2.
Typical fabrication process for the membrane structure includes deposition of an
etch-stop layer followed by the deposition of bottom electrode, piezoelectric layer
and top electrode for the resonator. A backside etching is then used to remove
10 1 Introduction
portion of the substrate to free the membrane. A disadvantage of the membrane type
acoustic wave resonator structure is the possibility that backside etching process
might not be compatible with previously fabricated circuits on the same substrate.
The membrane needs to be strong to withstand any post processing. Since the
membrane structure is lack of the ability to dissipate heat, it is not suitable for use
in high power circuits.
Figure 1.4b shows the air gap resonator structure. The air gap resonator structure
can be achieved by using an undercut etching to form a bridge structure. In the
processing, a sacrificial support layer is deposited before sputtering the resonator
layer, i.e., the piezoelectric layer. After the fabrication process for the top resonator
material, the sacrificial layer is etched away to form a structure which is supported
at the edges but is free from the substrate in the resonator active region. The
internal strain can affect this structure to make it somewhat fragile. Like the acoustic
membrane structure, it’s difficult to dissipate heat in high-power circuit when using
the air gap resonator structure. Since backside etching process is not required, the
air-bridge structure can be used with a larger number of substrates.
The schematic structure of SMR is shown is Fig. 1.4c. To achieve mechanical
resonance in a resonator structure, an acoustic isolation to the surrounding media
is required so that a large standing wave can be obtained. Since the achievable
mechanical acoustic impedance ratio of the common piezoelectric materials to
the corresponding substrates is small, the piezoelectric material layer cannot be
directly deposited on the substrate in order to obtain a high Q resonator which
requires the acoustic impedance on both sides of the resonator be approximately
zero. The solidly mounted resonator structure provides zero acoustic impedance for
the top interface and an acoustic impedance of almost zero for the bottom interface
where the acoustic reflector layer reflect the acoustic wave back to the piezoelectric
layer. The reflector can be composed of several layers with alternating values of high
and low acoustic impedance and a thickness equivalent to a quarter wavelengths at
the main resonance frequency. During resonator operation, at any of the interfaces
between high and low impedance layers a large percentage of the wave will be
reflected and sum up with correct wave phase since the thickness of each layer is
œ/4. It presents an apparent zero impedance at the interface as the case in the ideal
free air resonator structure. Since the bridge structures are not required, SMR device
can be fabricated after all other active devices are achieved and passivated.
1.3.3 Current Status of FBAR Filters
FBAR had remained to be of research interest or for some very niche applications
since its invention at the early 1980s, until Avago decided to mass-produce FBAR-
based duplexer filters for RF front-end filtering for cell phones in year 2001
[7, 8]. Avago FBAR is a membrane-type resonator that consists of Mo/Al/Mo
layers. The air pocket in the device is formed by etching away the sacrificial
Low-Temperature-Oxide (LTO) using vapor HF. The company recently announced
1.4 The Application of FBAR in Mass Loading Sensors 11
they had delivered 200 million duplexers based on its FBAR technologies. In the
market, Infineon is a major competitor of Avago by developing the solid mounted
FBAR duplexers. The main progress in FBAR has been triggered by FBAR filters
applications for the telecomindustry, particularly, inmobile phones. With the high
growth of FBAR duplexers and filters in wireless communication systems, many
leading semiconductor companies like Philips, STM, Fujitsu, Intel, Samsung, LG,
Skyworks, and Triquint are entering this field [6]. It is estimated that each year
around 2.3 billion filters are consumed in the cellular phones, in which about 65
million are FBAR-based filters. With the superior performance and small size of
FBARs over surface acoustic wave resonators and ceramic resonators, the market
for FBARs will be growing drastically in the upcoming years.
1.4 The Application of FBAR in Mass Loading Sensors
1.4.1 Acoustic Resonant Mass Sensors
Mass sensitive sensors have increasingly been used in chemical and biological
environment, including liquid and gas environment [9–11]. A resonant mass sensor
based on microcantilever’s flexural vibration, for example, has been developed to
detect various chemical and biological agents. Though such a sensor is highly
sensitive to any mass accumulated on the microcantilever surface, the cantilever’s
fragility and packaging difficulty make such a sensor be applicable only to some
niche applications. Among various mass sensors, the ones based on acoustic wave
resonance are most widely explored and applied because of their high sensitivity to
mass change, easiness in packaging, and potential low manufacturing cost.
A typical acoustic mass sensor uses the fact that the resonant frequency of an
acoustic-wave resonator changes in response to the mass change on the resonator
surface. Quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) and Surface acoustic wave (SAW)
sensor are the two most common acoustic mass sensors.
QCM is a kind of BAW devices that utilize longitudinal waves, known as
thickness shear mode, that propagate in the bulk of material. QCM is consisted
of a quartz disk sandwiched between two metal electrodes when an electric field
is applied to the electrodes, it produces an increase or decrease in the thickness
of the quartz disk, depending on whether the field is parallel or perpendicular to
the internal electrical polarization of the piezoelectric material. As a mass sensor,
the oscillation frequency of the quartz crystal depends on the total mass of the
crystal substrate and additional mass applied to the crystal surfaces. Mass added
to the system decreases the resonance frequency. This mass-frequency relationship
is defined by the Sauerbrey equation [12].
SAW microsensors utilize Rayleigh waves generated on the surface of a piezo-
electric substrate to measure mass change. Rayleigh waves are readily generated
in YZ and ST-quartz, YZ-LiNbO,ZY-LiTaO piezoelectric substrates using an
12 1 Introduction
interdigitated transducer (IDT) electrode design. AC voltage excitation is required

to generate Rayleigh waves, with IDT geometry governing the acoustic wavelength
and frequency. An interdigitated electrode is located at each end of the piezoelectric
substrate. One IDT acts as a transmitter while the other as a receiver of acoustic
energy travelling along the substrate surface as Rayleigh waves. The distance
between the electrodes forms a delay line with a known propagation time. Mass
added to the sensor will affect the transit time of the acoustic wave through the delay
line, altering the wave’s frequency, amplitude and phase. Shifts in wave parameters
are in proportion to the absorbed mass. The mass-frequency relationship is defined
by the Sauerbrey equation similar to the BAW devices previously described.
1.4.2 FBAR Mass Loading Sensors
FBAR has attracted experimental attention since this novel technique is a high-Q-
factor wireless system operating in the GHz microwave region. FBAR is based on
a vibrating small solid membrane that is fabricated onto a silicon substrate that can
be functionalized with a sensing nanocomposite coating. This type of resonators
meets the requirement for low-cost and small size sensors with the benefit of a high
working frequency in comparison with similar SAW devices. Silicon-based FBAR
can be considered as a highfrequency version of the quartz crystal microbalance.
In resonator based mass measurements, the mass sensitivity Sm of the BAW device
increases with the square of the operating frequency f0 :
2f02
Sm D (1.2)
0 h20
and the surface mass density m is proportional to the measured sensor signal f :
f D Sm m (1.3)
Here ¡0 , h0 are the density and thickness of the piezoelectric film, respectively.
QCM is made from thin plate of AT-cut quartz and works typically in several
MHz frequencies. In AT-cut quartz plate, it is difficult to further increase the
fundamental frequency because of its dependence on the thickness of the quartz
plate. However, unlike QCM that utilizes the quartz plate, FBAR is made from the
1–2 m thick piezoelectric film. With a working resonance in 2–10 GHz, FBAR has
a minimum detectable mass change in the range of 10 ng/cm2 , which is several
orders of magnitude lower than that of QCM.
In addition, another shortcoming of QCM and SAW device is that they can
hardly be configured easily for high-throughput detection and analysis of multiple
molecular targets due to the large size or the use of complex detection methods.
However, FBAR makes use of standard silicon technology, and provides low cost
References 13
and high throughput using simple electrical detection method with no need of
expensive optical apparatus and labeling with fluorescent or radioactive molecules.
Depending on the structure, surface geometry, and composition of the sensing
coatings, the mass sensitivity of the FBAR systems can be sufficiently improved
for nanocomposite layers embedded into a host polymer or another organic coating,
for example, cadmium arachidate matrix with embedded SWCNTs arrays [13]. In
vapour and liquid FBAR measurements, the effects of viscosity must be taken into
account [14, 15]. Recently, fabrication and successful usage of FBARs for biosensor
applications have been reported [16]. For the analysis of the experimental data of
FBAR in liquids, the theoretical models of Stockbridge and Kanazawa and Gordon
have been used [17].
In summary, FBAR is a very promising method in view of biosensor purposes
and, in particular, a combination of TFBAR devices in microfluidic arrays opens
a new route towards lab-on-chip applications, microanalysis, and small size im-
munosensors.
1.5 Overview of the Chapters
In this chapter, an introduction to piezoelectric bulk acoustic resonators is given.

The history and current status of the FBAR research and development are men-
tioned. In Chap. 2, the propagation of acoustic wave in solid is discussed, which
is the base knowledge of the FBAR. Chapter 3 presents the model and simulation
of an FBAR resonator. In Chap. 4, one key of FBAR fabrication, the deposition of
piezoelectric AlN film is investigated. Chapters 5 and 6 demonstrate two type of
FBAR including membrane type and SMR type, respectively. Chapter 7 talks about
the application of FBAR in the RF filters. Chapter 8 presents a shear mode FBAR
with lateral excited, which is another working mode of the FBAR. In Chap. 9, the
application of FBAR in mass loading sensors is discussed.
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14 1 Introduction
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Label-free detection of protein-ligand interactions in real time using micromachined bulk
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Chapter 2
Propagation of Acoustic Wave in Crystals
Abstract In this chapter, we will discuss the theory of the acoustic plane wave
propagation in solid, which is the basic principle of FBAR. Form the essential strain-
displacement equation and equation of motion of particle, Christoffel equation is
deduced to describe the propagation of acoustic wave in solid including general
medium and piezoelectric material. The propagation of plane wave in isotropic and
anisotropic medium are solved from Christoffel equation. The wave propagation
in the crystal axis and cubic face are detailed discussed for cubic crystal. One
solution describes a pure shear mode wave whose velocity is vertical to the xz-
plane. Other two solutions are quasi-shear mode and quasi-longitudinal mode. In the
piezoelectric dielectric, the Maxwell equation and Christoffel equation are coupled
to form coupled Christoffel equation. A piezoelectric hexagonal crystal is taken as
an example to find out the plane-wave solutions of Christoffel equation. There are
three kinds of the plane wave propagating in the c axis of the hexagonal crystal,
including a longitudinal mode and two shear mode waves. The field quantities of
these three kinds of plane wave propagating in c axis are listed.
Keywords Christoffel equation • Cubic crystal • Acoustic wave • Piezoelectric

hexagonal crystal • Shear mode • Longitudinal mode
In 1880, French physicist P. Curie and J. Curie brothers discovered that the addi-
tional stress on the quartz crystal leads to generating charges on some crystal face.
This phenomenon is called piezoelectric effect. Immediately, the Curie brothers
discovered the converse piezoelectric effect. The nature of the piezoelectric effect is
closely related to the occurrence of electric dipole moments in solids. The latter
may either be induced for ions on crystal lattice sites with asymmetric charge
surroundings or may directly be carried by molecular groups. The piezoelectric
effect occurs when the charge balance within the crystal lattice is disturbed. When
there is no applied stress on the material, the positive and negative charges are evenly
distributed so there is no potential difference. When the lattice is changed slightly,

DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-31776-7 2,
16 2 Propagation of Acoustic Wave in Crystals
the charge imbalance creates a potential difference, often as high as several thousand
volts. However, the current is extremely small and only causes a small electric
shock. The converse piezoelectric effect occurs when the electrostatic field created
by electrical current causes the atoms in the material to move slightly. Piezoelectric
crystals are now used in numerous ways such as electro acoustic transducer, high
voltage and power sources, sensors, actuators and frequency devices. The main
material of FBAR is some piezoelectric films including AlN, ZnO and PZT.
2.1 The Equation of Acoustic Plane Wave
2.1.1 The Equation of Elastic Deformation
The essential equations of elastic deformation are strain-displacement equation and

equation of motion of particle. In Cartesian Coordinates, the strain-displacement
equation and equation of motion of particle in free dielectric can be described
S D ru (2.1)
and
@2 u
r T D (2.2)
@t 2
where S and T is the strain and stress in the infinitesimal volume element,
respectively. u is the displacement of the particle, is the density of the material.
@u
rv D (2.3)
@t
According to the Hooke law, the stress is
T DcWS (2.4)
where tensor c is the elastic stiffness constant, S and T are both the symmetric
tensors in crystal without torque and can be described as.
3 2
S1
0 1 0 S 1S 1S 1 6S 7
6 27
Sxx Sxy Sxz 1 2 6 2 5 6 7
B C 6 S3 7
S D @ Sxy Syy Syz A D @ 2 S6 S2 2 S4 A ! 6 7
1 1
(2.5)
6 S4 7
Sxz Syz Szz 1
S 1 S S3 6 7
2 5 2 4 4 S5 5
S6
2.1 The Equation of Acoustic Plane Wave 17
3 2
T1
0 1 0 1 6T 7
6 27
Txx Txy Txz T1 T6 T5 6 7
6 T3 7
T D @ Txy Tyy A @ A
Tyz D T6 T2 T4 ! 6 7 (2.6)
6 T4 7
Txz Tyz Tzz T5 T4 T3 6 7
4 T5 5
T6
The differential operator r and r are defined as

2 3
@ @ @
0 0 0
6 @x @z @y 7
6 7
6 @ @ @ 7
r ! riK D6
6 0 0 0 7 (2.7)
6 @y @z @x 7
7
4 @ @ @ 5
0 0 0
@z @y @x
2 3
@
6 @x 0 0 7
6 7
6 @ 7
6 0 0 7
6 7
6 @y 7
6 @ 7
6 0 7
6 0 7
6 @z 7
r ! rLj D6 7 (2.8)
6 @ @ 7
6 0 7
6 @z @y 7
6 7
6 @ @ 7
6 0 7
6 @z @x 7
6 7
4 @ @ 5
0
@y @x
2.1.2 Christoffel Equation
Substituting (2.3) and (2.4) into (2.2), and then differentiating with respect to t, we
obtain
@S @2 v
rc W D 2: (2.9)
@t @t
Recalling strain-displacement equation (2.1), Eq. (2.9) reduces to
@2 v
r c W rv D : (2.10)
@t 2
This is the three-dimensional wave equation and can be rewritten in the form of
element of matrix as
@2 vi
riK cKL W rLj vj D : (2.11)
@t 2
Equation (2.11) contains three summations over the dummy indices j, k and L.
Finally, we consider a plane wave propagating in a direction l D lx i C ly j C lz k,
where lx , ly , lz are the projections of unit vector l on the three Cartesian axes. The
particle velocity is
˚
v D Ai exp j !t k lx x C ly y C lz z (2.12)
where ! is angular frequency, k D 2 /œ is wave number.

We substitute the operators riK and rLj to jkliK and jklLj , respectively, so
2 3
lx 0 0 0 lz ly
ikliK D ik 4 0 lz 0 0 0 lx 5 (2.13)
0 0 lz ly lx 0
2 3
lx 0 0
6 7
6 0 ly 0 7
6 7
6 0 0 lz 7
jklLj D jk 6 7: (2.14)
6 0 lx ly 7
6 7
4 lz 0 lx 5
ly lx 0
Substituting (2.12) into (2.11), we can obtain

k 2 liK cKL lLj vj D ! 2 vi : (2.15)
Equation (2.15) is called Christoffel equation [1] and suitable for isotropic and
anisotropic materials. Christoffel equation (2.15) can also be rewritten in the form
of matrix as
20 13 2 3 2 3
11 12 13 vx vx
k 2 4@ 21 22 23 A5 4 vy 5 D ! 2 4 vy 5 (2.16)
31 32 33 vz vz
where
ij D liK cKL lLj (2.17)
is called Christoffel matrix, whose elements depend on the propagating direction

and effective stiffness constant.
2.2 Propagation of Plane Wave in Isotropic Medium 19
2.2 Propagation of Plane Wave in Isotropic Medium
For the isotropic medium, effective stiffness constant is given in the form of
2 3
c11 c12 c12 0 0 0
6c 7
6 12 c11 c12 0 0 0 7
6 7
6c c12 c11 0 0 0 7
c D 6 12 7:
6 0 0 0 c44 0 0 7
6 7
4 0 0 0 0 c44 0 5
0 0 0 0 0 c44
1
c44 D .c11 c12 / (2.18)
2
Substituting (2.18) into (2.15), we can obtain the Christoffel equation in isotropic
medium:
2 3
k 2 c11 lx2 C c44 .1 lx2 / k 2 .c12 C c44 /lx ly k 2 Œ.c12 C c44 /lx lz
6 h i 7
6 k 2 .c C c /l l k 2 c l 2 C c .1 l 2 /
k 2 .c12 C c44 /ly lz 7
4 12 44 x y 11 2 44 y 5

k 2 Œ.c12 C c44 /lx lz k 2 .c12 C c44 /ly lz k 2 c11 lz2 C c44 .1 lz2 /
2 3 2 3
vx vx
4 vy 5 D ! 2 4 vy 5 : (2.19)
vz vz
For Christoffel equation, the necessary and sufficient condition on the existence
of nontrivial solutions is that the determinant of coefficient is zero. Now we consider
an acoustic wave propagating in z direction (lx D 0, ly D 0, lz D 1), thus Eq. (2.19)
is reduced to
2 32 3 2 3
c44 0 0 vx vx
4 0 c44 0 5 4 vy 5 D ! 2 4 vy 5 : (2.20)
0 0 c11 vz vz
So we have
c44 u1 D ! 2 vx
c44 u2 D ! 2 vy
c11 u3 D ! 2 vz : (2.21)
which show that there are three kinds of plane wave can propagate in the
isotropic medium. The first one is a shear mode propagating in z direction with
the polarization of x direction and the velocity of
p
vs1 D c44 =: (2.22)
the second one is a shear mode propagating in z direction with the polarization of y
direction and the velocity of
p
vs2 D c44 =: (2.23)
the third one is a longitudinal mode propagating in z direction with velocity of

p
vl D c11 =: (2.24)
2.3 Propagation of Plane Wave in Anisotropic Medium
2.3.1 Dispersion Relation and Inverse Velocity Face
The propagation of plane wave in anisotropic medium is also solved from Christof-
fel equation (2.15). Because the element of matrix of the elastic stiffness constant is
usually not equal to zero, the Eq. (2.15) can be written as

k 2 ij ! 2 ıij Œvj D 0 (2.25)
where
(
1; .i D j /
ıij D : (2.26)
0; .i ¤ j /
For Eq. (2.25) the necessary and sufficient condition on the existence of
nontrivial solutions is that the determinant of coefficient is zero. Thus the dispersion
relation is
ˇ 2 ˇ
ˇk ij ! 2 ıij ˇ D 0 (2.27)
2.3 Propagation of Plane Wave in Anisotropic Medium 21
where the ij is depends on the projections (lx , ly , lz ) and is described as
11 D c11 lx2 C c66 ly2 C c55 lz2 C 2c56 ly lz C 2c15 lz lx C 2c16 lx ly I
12 D c16 lx2 Cc26 ly2 C c45 lz2 C .c46 C c25 / ly lz C .c14 C c56 / lz lx C .c12 C c66 / lx ly I
21 D 12 I
22 D c66 lx2 C c22 ly2 C c44 lz2 C 2c24 ly lz C 2c46 lz lx C 2c26 lx ly I
31 D 13 I
32 D 23 I
33 D c55 lx2 C c44 ly2 C c33 lz2 C 2c34 ly lz C 2c55 lz lx C 2c45 lx ly : (2.28)
Equation (2.27) determines a curved face in wave-vector space which is called

wave-vector face. In addition, Eq. (2.27) can be rewritten as
ˇ ˇ
ˇ k 2 ˇ
ˇ ˇ
ˇ ij ıij ˇ D 0 (2.29)
ˇ ! ˇ
where k /! is the reciprocal of phase velocity and is a function of propagation

direction and !-independent. So Eq. (2.29) determines a curved face in inverse
velocity space which is called inverse velocity face or slow face. After getting the
solution of Eq. (2.29), the particle velocity and the polarization can be obtained.
2.3.2 The Solution of Wave Equation in Cubic Crystal
In the isotropic medium, the elastic stiffness constant of cubic crystal is in the
form of
2 3
c11 c12 c12 0 0 0
6c c c 7
6 12 11 12 0 0 0 7
6 7
6c c c 0 0 0 7
c D 6 12 12 11 7: (2.30)
6 0 0 0 c44 0 0 7
6 7
4 0 0 0 0 c44 0 5
0 0 0 0 0 c44
Substituting (2.30) into(2.28), we obtain the Christoffel equation of cubic crystal:

2 2 2 2 3
k k k
6 c11 lx2 C c44 .1 lx2 / .c12 C c44 /lx ly .c12 C c44 /lx lz 7
6 ! ! ! 7
6 2 2 h i 2 7
6 k k k 7
6 .c12 C c44 /lx ly c11 l22 C c44 .1 ly2 / .c12 C c44 /ly lz 7
6 ! ! ! 7
6 2 2 2 7
4 k k k 5
.c12 C c44 /lx lz .c12 C c44 /ly lz c11 lz2 C c44 .1 lz2 /
! ! !
2 3
vx
6 7
4 vy 5 D 0: (2.31)
vz
Notice that Eq. (2.31) has the similar form to (2.19), but dosen’t have the
isotropism condition of
1
c44 D .c11 c12 / : (2.32)
2
Now we will discuss the wave propagation in the crystal axis and cubic face.
1. The plane wave propagation in the crystal axis
Let the coordinate axis x, y and z are parallel to the crystal axis of [100],
[010] and [001], respectively. For the example of the plane wave propagating in
the [100], the projections are lx D 1, ly D 0, lz D 0. Substituting the projections
into (2.31), we get the proper equation:
ˇ 2 2 2 ˇ
ˇ k c l 2 C c .1 l 2 / k k ˇ
ˇ ! 11 x 44 .c12 C c44 /lx ly .c12 C c44 /lx lz ˇ
ˇ ˇ
x
! !
ˇ 2 2 h i 2 ˇ
ˇ k
.c12 C c44 /lx ly
k
c11 l22 C c44 .1 ly2 /
k
.c12 C c44 /ly lz ˇ D 0:
ˇ ! ! ! ˇ
ˇ 2 2 2 ˇ
ˇ k k k ˇ
ˇ !
.c12 C c44 /lx lz
!
.c12 C c44 /ly lz
!
c11 lz2 C c44 .1 lz2 / ˇ
(2.33)
That is

q 2 q 2 q 2
c11 c44 c44 D 0 (2.34)
! ! !
Equation (2.34) has three solutions as follows:

The first one is

q 2 ! p
c11 D 0; vl D D c11 =: (2.35)
! q
The second one and the third one are the same form as

q 2 ! p
c44 D 0; vs D D c44 =: (2.36)
! q
2.3 Propagation of Plane Wave in Anisotropic Medium 23
In summary, the first solution describes the longitudinal mode wave with the
phase velocity of vl in the crystal direction. The second and third solutions
describe the shear mode wave with the phase velocity of vs in the crystal
direction.
2. The plane wave propagation in the cubic face.
Let the coordinate axis be paralleled to the crystal axis. For the example of
the plane wave propagating in the cubic face, the projections are lx ¤ 0, ly D 0,
lz ¤ 0. Substituting the projections into (2.31), we get the Christoffel equation in
the cubic face
2 2 2 3
k k
6 c11 lx2 C c44 lz2 0 .c12 C c44 /lx lz 7" #
6 ! ! 7 vx
2
6 k 7
6 0 c44 0 7 vy D 0:
6 2 ! 2
7 vz
4 k k 5
.c12 C c44 /lx lz 0 c11 lz2 C c44 lx2
! !
(2.37)
The proper equation of (2.37) is

ˇ 2 2 ˇ
ˇ k k ˇ
ˇ c l 2
C c l 2
0 .c12 C c44 /lx lz ˇ
ˇ ! 11 x 44 z
! ˇ
ˇ 2 ˇ
ˇ k ˇ
ˇ 0 c44 0 ˇ D 0: (2.38)
ˇ ! 2 ˇ
ˇ 2
ˇ
ˇ k
.c12 C c44 /lx lz
k
c11 lz2 C c44 lx2
ˇ
ˇ !
0
!
ˇ
Thus we get two solutions as follows

2 p
k
c44 D 0 ) v1 D c44 = (2.39)
!
and
" # " #
k 2 k 2
c11 lx C c44 lz
2 2
c11 lz C c44 lx D 0
2 2
! !
q 12
p
)v2 D 2 c11 C c44 .c11 c44 /2 cos2 2' C .c11 C c44 /2 sin2 2'
q 12
p
v3 D 2 c11 C c44 C .c11 c44 / cos 2' C .c11 C c44 / sin 2'
2 2 2 2
(2.40)
where cos® D lx .
The first solution describes a pure shear mode wave whose velocity is vertical
to the xz-plane. Other two solutions are quasi-shear mode and quasi-longitudinal
mode. The velocities of the quasi-shear mode and quasi-longitudinal mode are
the functions of the propagating direction. The phase velocity and the energy-
transmission velocity are different in direction. In the way mentioned above, the
plane wave propagation in other crystal face can be obtained.
2.4 Piezoelectrically Active Wave Propagation
It is known that the Maxwell equation has two solutions of plane wave, while
the Christoffel equation has three solutions of plane wave as mentioned above. In
the general materials, the solutions of Maxwell equation and Christoffel equation
are independent of each other. However, in the piezoelectric dielectric, due to the
piezoelectric effect, the Maxwell equation and Christoffel equation are coupled with
each other by the piezoelectric-strain equation
D D "T E C d W T (2.41)
S D d W E C sE W T (2.42)
and piezoelectric-stress equation
T D cE W S e E (2.43)
D D e W S C "s E (2.44)
where "T is clamped dielectric constant, d is piezoelectric strain constant,sE elastic

compliance coefficient in short circuit, cE is elastic stiffness constant in constant
electric field, "s is dielectric constant in constant stain, e is piezoelectric stress
constant.
The Eqs. (2.41), (2.42), (2.43), and (2.44) have five solutions which are coupled
with acoustic wave and electromagnetic wave. So the Eqs. (2.41), (2.42), (2.43), and
(2.44) are called coupled wave equation.
Due to the size of electroacoustic device is much smaller than that of correspond-
ing electromagnetic wavelength, the coupled electromagnetic field can be seen as
the electrostatic field. Thus the electric-field intensity can be written as the function
of the gradient of electric potential
E D r: (2.45)
Substituting into (2.2), we get
@v
r c E W S C r e r D : (2.46)
@t
2.4 Piezoelectrically Active Wave Propagation 25
Differentiate (2.46) with respect to t, we have
@S @ @2 v
r cE W Cr er D 2: (2.47)
@t @t @t
Then Substituting (2.3) into (2.47)
@ @2 v
r c E W rv C r e D 2: (2.48)
@t @t
Because the dielectric has no free charge, the divergence of (2.44) is
r D D r e W S r "s r D 0: (2.49)
Differentiate (2.49) with respect to t, we obtain
@ @S
r "s r Dr e W : (2.50)
@t @t
Equations (2.48) and (2.50) is called the coupled equation in piezoelectric
material. They can be rewritten in matrix form as
@ @2 vi
riK cKL
E
rLj vj C riK eKj rj D 2 (2.51)
@t @t
!

@
ri "ij rj
s
D ri eiL rLj vj : (2.52)
@t
For the plane with the form of exp Œj .!t kl r/, Eqs. (2.51) and (2.52) can
be reduce to

k 2 liK cKL
E
lLj vj C j!q 2 liK eKj lj D ! 2 vi : (2.53)

j! li "sij lj D li eiL lLj vj (2.54)
where operators ri k , rLj , ri and rj is simplified as jkliK , jklLj , jkli and jklj ,
li and lj are li D [lx ly lz ]and lj D [lx ly lz ]T , respectively. From the Eq. (2.54), the electric
potential arrives to
1 li eiL lLj
D vj : (2.55)
j! li "ij lj
Substituting it into (2.53), we get

( ) !
eKj lj Œli eiL
k 2
liK E
cKL C lLj vj D ! 2 vi : (2.56)
li "sij lj
We defined piezoelectric stiffness constant is

eKj lj Œli eiL
cijDkl D E
cKL C : (2.57)
li "sij lj
It can be seen that the form of (2.56) is similar to the Christoffel equation of
general medium. So the plane wave can be solved by the same way mentioned
above.
2.5 The Plane Wave Propagating in Piezoelectric

Hexagonal Crystal
Now we take the piezoelectric hexagonal crystal as an example to find out the plane-
wave solutions of Christoffel equation. In constant electric field, the elastic stiffness
constant of hexagonal crystal is written as
2 3
E E E
c11 c12 c13 0 0 0
6 cE cE E 7
6 12 11 c13 0 0 0 7
6 E E 7
6c c E
c11 0 0 0 7
c D 6 13 13
E
7; (2.58)
6 0 0 0 E
c44 0 0 7
6 7
4 0 0 0 0 E
c44 0 5

0 0 0 0 0 1
2
c E
11 c E
12
the piezoelectric-stress constant is

2 3
0 0 0 0 ex5 0
e D 4 0 0 0 ex5 0 0 5 (2.59)
ez1 ez1 ez3 0 0 0
and clamped dielectric constant is

2 3
"sxx 0 0
"s D 4 0 "sxx 0 5 : (2.60)
0 0 "szz
The acoustic plane wave propagating in the material can be seen as the linear
superposition of the wave propagating in positive and negative directions. If the
wave propagates in the c axis, let the z coordinate axis be parallel to the c crystal
axis. Thus the direction vector is l D lz z and the velocity of the particle is written as
n o
v D vz z D vC
z0
exp Œj .!t kz/ C v
z0
exp Œj .!t C kz/ z (2.61)
2.5 The Plane Wave Propagating in Piezoelectric Hexagonal Crystal 27
where vCz0
and v
z0
describe the amplitude of the waves along positive and negative
directions.
Substituting (2.58), (2.59), and (2.60) into (2.56), Similar to the process of
derivation, we get the proper equation of Christoffel matrix
" ! # 2
k 2 E 2
ez3
q 2
c33 C s c44 D 0 (2.62)
! "zz !
The first solution is

s
E C e 2 ="s
c33 z3 zz
vl D (2.63)

The second and third solutions are

p
vs D c44 = (2.64)
So similar to the general medium, there are three kinds of the plane wave
propagating in the c axis of the hexagonal crystal. One is longitudinal mode wave
with the phase velocity of vl . The phase velocity depends on not only the elastic
properties but also the piezoelectric and dielectric properties. The other two are
shear mode wave with the phase velocity of vt whose polarization directions are
perpendicular to each other. These shear mode is independent on the piezoelectric
properties [2].
If we let the right side of Eq. (2.50) be equal to zero, we get
!

!
@
r "s r D 0: (2.65)
@t
For a steady state sinusoidal regime, the time derivative can be neglected. Taking
account of the symmetry of the crystal, Eq. (2.50) can be expand as
@2 @2 @2
"sxx 2
C "sxx 2 C "szz 2 D 0: (2.66)
@x @y @z
If the electric potential changes along z direction, Eq. (2.50) can be reduced to
@2
"szz D0 (2.67)
@z2
Now we find another solution of electric potential as
.z/ D .az C b/ exp.j!t/ (2.68)

The electric potential of the plane wave should be the sum of (2.61) and (2.55).
Other field quantities can be deduced from (2.68) and (2.55). The field quantities of
the three kinds of plane wave propagating in c axis are listed as follows.
1. Longitudinal mode wave
s
E C e 2 ="s
c33 z3 zz
vl D (2.69)

n o
v D vz z D vC
z0
exp Œj .!t kz/ C v
z0
exp Œj .!t C kz/ z (2.70)
1 ez3 n C
o
D v exp Œj .!t qz/ C v exp Œj .!t C qz/ C .az C b/ exp.j!t/
j! "szz z0 z0
(2.71)
1 ez3 Cn o
E D Ez z D v exp Œj .!t kz/ v exp Œj .!t C kz/ z a exp.j!t/z
vl "szz z0 z0
(2.72)
8
ˆ c E C ez1 ez3 ="szz n C o
ˆ
ˆ T1 D 13 vz0 exp Œj .!t kz/ C v exp Œj .!t C kz/ C ez1 a exp.j!t /
ˆ
ˆ z0
ˆ
<
vl
c E C ez1 ez3 ="szz n C o
T ! T2 D 13
ˆ vz0 exp Œj .!t kz/ C v exp Œj .!t C kz/ C ez1 a exp.j!t /
ˆ
ˆ vl z0
ˆ
ˆ c E C ez3 ="szz n C o
:̂ T3 D 33 vz0 exp Œj .!t kz/ C v exp Œj .!t C kz/ C ez3 a exp.j!t /
z0
vl
(2.73)
DD0 (2.74)
2. Shear mode wave1

r
c44
vs1 D (2.75)

n o
v D vx x D vC
z0
exp Œj .!t kz/ C v
z0
exp Œj .!t C kz/ x (2.76)
D0 (2.77)
E n o
c44
T ! T5 D vC
z0
exp Œj .!t kz/ v
z0
exp Œj .!t C kz/ (2.78)
vs1
E D0 (2.79)
ez3
C
D D Dx x D vz0 exp Œj .!t kz/ C v
z0
exp Œj .!t C kz/ x (2.80)
vs1
References 29
3. Shear mode wave2

r
c44
vs2 D (2.81)

n o
v D vy y D vC
z0
exp Œj .!t kz/ C v
z0
exp Œj .!t C kz/ y (2.82)
D0 (2.83)
E n o
c44
T ! T4 D vzC
z0
exp Œj .!t kz/ v
z0
exp Œj .!t C kz/ (2.84)
vs2
E D0 (2.85)
ez3
C
D D Dx y D vz0 exp Œj .!t kz/ C v
z0
exp Œj .!t C kz/ y (2.86)
vs2
References
1. Auld, B.A.: Acoustic Fields and Waves in Solids. Artech House, Boston (1985)
2. Rosenbaum, J.F.: Bulk Acoustic Wave Theory and Devices. Artech House, Boston (1992)
Chapter 3
The Theory of FBAR
Abstract FBAR is composed of piezoelectric film, electrodes and supporting layer

or Bragg acoustic reflector. The performance of FBAR depends on the acoustic and
electric properties of the materials. Based on the acoustic theory, we can deduce the
plane-wave-propagating characteristics of the general elastic films and piezoelectric
film in FBAR and then obtain the electric impedance of the device. In this chapter,
the electric impedances of ideal and practical FBAR are deduced to present the
resonance characteristics. In addition, the universal equivalent mode based on
transmission line is obtained for calculating the performance of FBAR. Using this
mode, the influences of the material parameters, electrodes and supporting layer
were calculated.
Keywords Resonance • Wave-propagating characteristics • Electric impedance •

Transmission line • Universal equivalent mode • Influences of the structure
FBAR is composed of piezoelectric film, electrodes and supporting layer or Bragg

acoustic reflector. The performance of FBAR depends on the acoustic and electric
properties of the materials. Based on the acoustic theory, we can deduce the plane-
wave-propagating characteristics of the general elastic films and piezoelectric film
in FBAR and then obtain the electric impedance of the device.
3.1 The Electric Impedance of the Ideal FBAR
3.1.1 The Analytic Expression of the Electric Impedance
Figure 3.1 shows the configuration of the ideal FBAR which is considered of
the wave propagation in piezoelectric film neglecting the influences of electrodes
and other layers. We take the example of the piezoelectric hexagonal crystal.

DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-31776-7 3,
32 3 The Theory of FBAR
f(h) = y0 exp(jwt);
T3(h) = 0 z
+h
2ψ0exp(jωt) Piezoelectric film x

y
−h
f(−h) = –y0 exp(jwt);
T3(–h) = 0
Fig. 3.1 The configuration of the ideal FBAR
A coordinate system is set up as shown in Fig. 3.1. An alternative electric field

2‰ 0 exp(j¨t) is applied to the piezoelectric film in z direction. The thickness of the
piezoelectric film is 2 h.
According to coupled wave equation, the longitudinal mode wave along z axis
is excited by the electric field in z direction. So there is only the longitudinal mode
wave in the ideal but not the shear mode which excited by the electric filed in x or y
directions.
The quantities of the acoustic and electromagnetic field in piezoelectric hexago-
nal crystal are described that
s
E
c33 C ez3
2
="szz
vl D (3.1)

n o
v D vz z D vC
z0
exp Œj.!t kz/ C v
z0
exp Œj.!t kz/ z (3.2)
1 ez3 n C o
D s
vz0 exp Œj .!t qz/ C v
z0
exp Œj .!t qz/
j! "zz
C .az C b/ exp .j!t/ (3.3)
1 ez3 n C
o
E D Ez z D v exp Œj .!t kz/ C v exp Œj .!t kz/
vl "szz z0 z0
z a exp .j!t/ z (3.4)

8 n o
c E Ce e = "s
ˆ
ˆ T1 D 13 z1vl z3 zz vC exp Œj .!t kz/ C v exp Œj .!t kz/ C ez1 aexp .j!t /
ˆ
< z0 z0
E n o
Cez1 ez3 = "szz
T ! T D
c13
vC exp Œj .!t kz/ C v exp Œj .!t kz/ C e aexp .j!t /
ˆ
ˆ
2 vl
n
z0 z0
o
z1
:̂ T D 33 z3 zz vC exp Œj .!t kz/ C v exp Œj .!t kz/ C e aexp .j!t /

c E
Ce = " s
3 vl z0 z0 z3
(3.5)
3.1 The Electric Impedance of the Ideal FBAR 33
The electric impedance can be obtained according to the boundary condition

of the potential and stress. The potentials of the top and bottom surfaces of the
piezoelectric film is that
1 ez3 h C i
.h/ D s
vz0 exp .j qh/ C v
z0
exp .Cj qh/ exp .j!t/ C .ah C b/ exp .j!t/
j! "zz
D 0 exp .j!t/ (3.6)
1 ez3 h C i
.h/ D s
vz0 exp .Cj qh/ C v
z0
exp .j qh/ exp .j!t/ C .ah C b/ exp .j!t/
j! "zz
D 0 exp .j!t/ (3.7)
Because the top and bottom surfaces oscillate freely, the stress on the surface is
zero, which means
E
c33 C ez3 = "szz h C i
T3 .h/ D vz0 exp .j qh/ C v
z0
exp .Cj qh/ exp .j!t / C ez3 a exp .j!t /
vl
D0 (3.8)
E
c33 C ez3 = "szz h C i
T3 .h/ D vz0 exp .Cj qh/ C v
z0
exp .j qh/ exp .j!t / C ez3 a exp .j!t /
vl
D0 (3.9)
From (3.6), (3.7), (3.8), and (3.9) we get
0 =h
aD (3.10)
1 kt2 tan .qh/ = qh
bD0 (3.11)
"szz kt2 vl 0 =h
vC
z0 D vz0 D (3.12)
ez3 2 cos.qh/ 1 kt tan.qh/ = qh
2
ez32 = "szz
kt2 D (3.13)
E
c33 C ez32 = "szz
where kt 2 is the electromechanical coupling constant of the longitudinal wave in the

c axis.
The displacement current on the surface of the piezoelectric film is
@Dz
Id D A (3.14)
@t
Substituting (3.4) and (3.10) into (3.14), and replacing time differential with –j¨,
we have
j!"szz A 0 = h
I D : (3.15)
1 kt2 tan .qh/= h
The electric impedance of the ideal FBAR is
U
Zi n D : (3.16)
I
Substituting the express of electric field 2‰ 0 exp(j¨t) and (3.15) into (3.16), we
get the electric impedance as
I
Zi n D 1 kt2 tan.qh/ = qh (3.17)
j!C0
where
"szz A
C0 D (3.18)
2h
is static capacity. In the deduction of the electric impedance, there is a basic
hypothesis which is the resonance is one dimension without the influences of shear
mode and edge effect.
3.1.2 The Resonance of FBAR
According to (3.17), the magnitude and phase of the ideal FBAR can be plotted
as frequency using the material properties of AlN listed in Table 3.1. In the
disresonance state, the device shows pure capacitive character with the phase of
qh D /2; in the resonance state, the device shows pure inductive character
with the phase of qh D /2. Near the resonance frequency, the frequency of the
impedance approaching infinity is called parallel resonance frequency fp , while the
frequency of the impedance approaching zero is called series resonance frequency
fs as shown in Fig. 3.2.
For parallel resonance, form (3.16) we find tan(qh) /qh approaches infinity,
which is
2 fp
qh D h D .2n C 1/ .n D 0; 1; 2 : : :/: (3.19)
vl 2
3.1 The Electric Impedance of the Ideal FBAR 35
Table 3.1 The material A 100 m 100 m

properties of AlN
dD2 h 2 m
cE33 395 GPa
e33 1.55 C/m2
¡ 3,260 kg/m2
4 π/2
Log(impedance) (Ohms)
fp
3 π/4
Phase (rad)
2 0
1 –π/4
fs
0 –π/2
–1
2.6 2.7 2.8 2.9 3.0
Frequency (GHz)
Fig. 3.2 The magnitude and phase of the ideal FBAR
The parallel resonance frequency

1 vl
fp D n C (3.20)
2 2h
where n D 0 is the first parallel resonance frequency (basic frequency)
1 vl vl
fp D D (3.21)
2 2h 2d
where d D 2 h is the thickness of the piezoelectric film.
For series frequency
kt2 tan.qh/
1 D0 (3.22)
h
which is
h
2 fs va
D
D kt2 : (3.23)
tan tan 2 fs vah
Substituting (3.2) into (3.23), we get
fs
fp n C 12

2 fp fs
kt2 D
: (3.24)
tan fs
n C 12
4 fp
fp
The electromechanical coupling constant relates to the interval of the resonance

frequency.
3.2 The Electric Impedance of the Compound FBAR
3.2.1 The Definition of the Acoustic Impedance
We induce the definition of the acoustic impedance
Tij .z/
Zmech .z/ D ; (3.25)
vi .z/
where Tij (z) and vij (z) is the stress and particle velocity, respectively. For a given
acoustic mode in the material, we define the characteristic acoustic impedance is
TijC
c
Z mech D ; (3.26)
vC
i
where means we only consider the wave propagating in positive direction. The
characteristic acoustic impedance of the longitudinal mode in the cubic and
hexagonal crystals is
p
c
Z mech D c33 (3.27)
3.2.2 The Boundary Condition of Compound FBAR
In the practical FBAR, the influences of the electrodes and other layers can not be
neglected. The structure of the practical FBAR can be described as the compound
mode as shown in Fig. 3.3. All the layers but piezoelectric film are looked as a
general acoustic layer where the plane z D h and the plane z D h are the interfaces
of the top electrode and bottom electrode with the piezoelectric film.
3.2 The Electric Impedance of the Compound FBAR 37
Fig. 3.3 The compound

mode composed of Z rmeck = Z meck (h) = –T3(h)/vz(h)
piezoelectric film and two
effective acoustic layers
Piezoelectric film
Z smeck = Z meck (–h) = –T3(–h)/vz(–h)
In any the interface of two acoustic layer of n and n C 1, the particle velocity and
stress satisfy the boundary conditions of
vn D vnC1 I T n n D T nC1 n ; (3.28)
where is the normal vector of the interface.

According to the transmission-line theory, the compound mode as shown in
Fig. 3.2 is composed of piezoelectric film and two effective acoustic layers.
If we have known the acoustic impedance z0 of one point, the acoustic impedance
for any point is
" #
Z mech .z0 / C jZ mech
c
tan.kz z/
Z mech .z/ D Z mech
c
: (3.29)
c
Z mech C jZ mech
c .z0 / tan.kz z/
The top and bottom surface of the device is air-medium interface with the
acoustic impedance is zero, so the acoustic impedance of the top and bottom surface
of the piezoelectric film can be deduced.
In the plane of z D h and z D h
E
c33 C ez3 ="szz C
T3 .h/ D vz0 exp.j qh/ C v
z0 exp.Cj qh/ exp.j!t/
v1
C ez3 a exp.j!t/
C
D vz0 exp.j qh/ C v
z0 exp.Cj qh/ exp.j!t/ Zmech .h/
(3.30)
E
c33 C ez3 ="szz C
T3 .h/ D vz0 exp.Cj qh/ C v
z0 exp.j qh/ exp.j!t/
v1
C ez3 a exp.j!t/
C
D vz0 exp.Cj qh/ C v
z0 exp.j qh/ exp.j!t/ Zmech .h/
(3.31)
In addition, the boundary condition of the potential is
1 ez3 C
.h/ D s
vz0 exp.j qh/ C v
z0 exp.Cj qh/ exp.j!t/
j! "zz
C .ah C b/ exp.j!t/ D 0 exp.j!t/ (3.32)
1 ez3 C
.h/ D vz0 exp.Cj qh/ C v
z0 exp.j qh/ exp.j!t/
j! "szz
C .ah C b/ exp.j!t/ D 0 exp.j!t/ (3.33)
The electric impedance of the compound FBAR can be obtained by the way
similar to the ideal FBAR.

1 tan .zT C zB / cos2 C j sin 2
Zi n D 1 kt2 (3.34)
j!C0 .zT C zB / cos 2 C j.1 C zT zB / sin 2
where ZT and ZB are the normalized acoustic impedance on the top and bottom
surfaces and are
Zmech .h/ Zmech .h/

ZT D ; zB D (3.35)
Zpc Zpc
Zpc is the characteristic acoustic impedance

s
E
c33 C ez32
Zpc D : (3.36)
"szz
In the ideal FBAR, ZT and ZB are both zero, so (3.34) is reduced to (3.17).
3.3 The Loss and Performances of FBAR
In the above discussion, we have a hypothesis of the materials is non-acoustic

loss. Actually, the acoustic loss mainly includes damping loss and viscous loss.
In the room temperature, the latter is the main. For the longitudinal mode wave
3.4 The Equivalent Electromechanical Mode of FBAR 39
propagating in c axis in the cubic and hexagonal crystals, the wave number is
described using complex number taking account into the acoustic loss.
r s
0 ! 1
k D 0 D" Dk ; (3.37)
vl c0 11 1C j!11
c11
where vl 0 is the complex phase velocity, ˜11 is the coefficient matrix of viscosity.
For the low loss material, the (3.37) approximates to

1 j!11
k0 D k 1 D k j˛: (3.38)
2 c11
’ is the attenuation coefficient which is direct proportion of the square of the

frequency. Substituting complex k0 of k into (3.34), we get the electric impedance
considering acoustic loss.
The main performance parameters of FBAR are effective electromechanical
coupling constant and Q-factor, defined as

2 fp fs
2
Keff D (3.39)
4 fp
ˇ ˇ ˇ ˇ
fs ˇˇ d †Z ˇˇ fp ˇ d †Z ˇ
ˇ ˇ
Qs D ˇ ˇ ; Qp D ˇ df ˇ : (3.40)
2 df fs 2 fp
The effective electromechanical coupling constant depends on the interval of

fs and fp , so it suggests the bandwide. Q-factor suggests the energy loss in the
materials.
3.4 The Equivalent Electromechanical Mode of FBAR
3.4.1 The Equivalent Mode of the Layers
1. The transmission line mode of the general acoustic layer

The acoustic wave propagating in the layers can be regarded as the linear
superposition of the plane waves in positive and negative directions [1]. The form
of the wave in z axis direction is
˚
v D vz z D vC
z0 exp Œj .!t kz/ C vz0 exp Œj.!t C kz/ z: (3.41)
a Z
F1
z1
v1 v2
z2
F2
b v1 v2
a a
F1 b F2
Fig. 3.4 (a) The propagation of the acoustic wave in the general acoustic layer; (b) The
transmission line mode of the general acoustic layer
Figure 3.4 shows the coordinate system. Let the coordinates of the top and bottom
surfaces are z D z1 and z D z2 , respectively. The particle velocities are

v1 D vz .z1 / D vC
z0 exp.j kz1 / C vz0 exp.Cj kz1 / exp.j!t/ (3.42)

v2 D vz .z2 / D vC
z0 exp.j kz2 / C vz0 exp.Cj kz2 / exp.j!t/: (3.43)
Form (3.42) and (3.43), vC

z0 and vz0 can be described as
v1 exp.j kz2 / v2 exp.j kz1 /

vC
z0 D (3.44)
2j sin .kd /
v2 exp.j kz1 / v1 exp.j kz2 /
v
z0 D : (3.45)
2j sin .kd /
The stress on the surface z D z1 is

F1 D F3 .z1 / D AT3 .z1 / D AZmech .z1 /v1

D A vC
z0 exp .j kz1 / C vz0 exp.Cj kz1 / exp.j!t/ (3.46)
where A is the area.

Substituting (3.44) and (3.45) into (3.46), we get
A
Zmech kd
F1 D .v1 v2 / C jZmech tan
A
v1 (3.47)
j sin.kd / 2
where
ckA
A
Zmech D D Zmech
c
A: (3.48)
!
is defined as the surface characteristic acoustic impedance.
Likewise, we get
a
Zmech kd
F2 D .v1 v2 / jZmech
A
tan v2 : (3.49)
j sin .kd / 2
Equations (3.47) and (3.49) can be demonstrated in the transmission line mode
as shown in Fig. 3.4 where F1 and F2 are the acoustic input and output ports. The
form of matrix is
2 3
aCb a2
F1 6 b 2a C 7 F2 F2
D4 b 5 DM ; (3.50)
v1 1 aCb v2 v2
b b
which is the transmission matrix of the transmission line where

kd
a DjZmech tan
A
2
A
Zmech
bD : (3.51)
j sin.kd /
2. The equivalent mode of the piezoelectric layer

For the longitudinal wave in z direction in the piezoelectric film, the piezoelectric
equation is
@uz
Dz D "szz Ez C ez3 Sz D "szz Ez C ez3 (3.52)
@t
and the electric field is described
Dz ez3 @uz
Ez D s : (3.53)
"szz "zz @t
In the right of the equation, the first term is the external E field, and the second
term is the field competence which internally generated by the acoustic wave.
Using
@uz
D j!vz (3.54)
@t
we get the displacement current in the piezoelectric layer
I D j!ADz : (3.55)
Substituting (3.54) and (3.55) into (3.53) and integrating, the voltage between
the piezoelectric film surfaces is thus
Z z2
d I h
V D Ez d z D S
C .v1 v2 /; (3.56)
z1 " j!A j!
where
ez3
hD : (3.57)
"szz
Solving (3.56) for I, we get
I D j!C0 V C hC0 .v1 v2 /

"S A
C0 D ; (3.58)
d
where C0 is the static capacitance.
The current in the piezoelectric is composed of two terms, one is the displace-
ment current though a capacitance, j¨C0 V. The other is the current due to the
conversion of mechanical energy because of piezoelectric effect, hC0 (v1 v2 ).
The force on the piezoelectric layer is
F1 D F3 .z1 / D T3 A

Dz ez3 Sz
D c33
E
Sz A e A
"szz
!
2
ez3 ez3 Dz
D c33 C s
E
Sz A A
"zz "szz
ez3 Dz
D c33
D
Sz A A; (3.59)
"szz
where
!
e2
D
c33 D E
c33 1 C z3 (3.60)
"szz
is piezoelectric stiffness constant.

a a
–C0 b
I
F1 F2
V C0
I:hC0
Fig. 3.5 The equivalent circuit of a piezoelectric slab
In the same manner of the general acoustic layer, using (3.44) we can get in the
piezoelectric layer
A
Zmech kd h
F1 D .v1 v2 / C j Zmech
A
tan v1 C I (3.61)
j sin.kd / 2 j!
Comparing with the general layer, the electric term appeared. The equivalent
circuit of a piezoelectric slab is shown in Fig. 3.5.
I
V D (3.62)
j!C0
3.4.2 The Universal Equivalent Mode of FBAR
In FBAR, the acoustic wave excited in the piezoelectric film propagates in other
layers. So the particle velocities and stress are continuous. So the equivalent elec-
tromechanical mode of FBAR can be obtained by means of connecting the output
and input ports of the equivalent modes of adjacent layers. The universal equivalent
electromechanical mode of a typical membranes structure FBAR composed of four
layers is shown in Fig. 3.6.

kn dn
an D j Zn tan
2
Zn
bn D .n D 1; 2; 3 : : :/ (3.63)
j sin .kn dn /
where Zn is the characteristic acoustic impedance of the surfaces, kn is the wave

number, dn is the thickness of the layers. The top and bottom surface of FBAR is
air-medium interface, so the stresses are zero on this surface.
Top electrode
Z1, d1, = 100 nm
I
V
Piezoelectric layer
Z2, d2, = 2 μm
Bottom electrode
Z3, d3, = 100 nm
Supporting layer
Z4, d4, = 200 nm
Fig. 3.6 A typical membranes structure FBAR
a1 a1 a2 a2 a3 a3 a4 a4
–C0 b2
I
F1–0 b1 b3 b4 F4=0
v4
V C0
I:hC0
Top electrode Piezoelectric layer Bottom electrode Supporting layer
Fig. 3.7 The universal mode of FBAR
M1 M2 M3
a2 a2 a3 a3 a4 a4
–C0
I b2
V C0 a1 b3 b4 F4 =0
v4
I:hC0
b1 a1
Fig. 3.8 The transmission line mode of FBAR
Figure 3.7 can be deduced to Fig. 3.8 which can be calculated by transmission
matrix.
The transmission matrix of the piezoelectric layer is
" # " #
V 1 0 1 j!C
1 1
0 AC F1
D 0 hC0 (3.64)
I j!C0 1 0 1 0 hC0 BD v1
where
b2 C a1 C a1 b1
a1 Cb1 1
AD ; BD
b2 C a1 C a1 b1
a1 Cb1
b2 C a1 C a1 b1
a1 Cb1
a2 b2 a2 C b2 C a1 b1
a1 Cb1
C D b2 C a2 C ; DD : (3.65)
b2 a1 C a1 b1
a1 Cb1
b2 C a1 C a1 b1
a1 Cb1
The transmission matrix of FBAR device is
M D M1 M2 M3 (3.66)
where are the piezoelectric layers including the top electrode, the bottom electrode
and the supporting layer. The relation between electric port and acoustic port is

V F4
DM (3.67)
I v4
The electric input impedance of the FBAR is thus
V M11 F4 C M12 v4 M11 ZL C M12

Zi n D D D (3.68)
I M21 F4 C M22 v4 M21 ZL C M22
where
F4
ZL D (3.69)
v4
is the acoustic load on the output port of the last layer. For the FBAR words in air,
ZL D 0, so
M12
Zi n D : (3.70)
M22
Figure 3.9 shows the calculated impedance as the function of frequency of the
typical FBAR. Some material properties are listed in Table 3.2.
3.4.3 The Equivalent Circuit Nears the Resonance of FBAR
For the design of filters and oscillator based on FBAR, a lumped parameter model,
which is called Butterworth Van-Dyke (BVD) model [1], was developed to describe
the electronic behavior near the resonance point. The BVD model is relative simple
in comparison with the universal equivalent model as shown in Fig. 3.7 where the
π/4
4 fp
Qz = 914
Qp = 896 π/2
3
Kp2 = 896
Phase (rad)
0
2
–π/4
1
fs
–π/2
0
1.6 1.8 2.0 2.2 2.4
Frequency (GHz)
Fig. 3.9 The calculated impedance as the function of frequency of the typical FBAR
Table 3.2 Some material properties used in calculation

ez 3 c33 E /c11 ¡ Zc mech vl ’
2 2 S
(C/m ) (Pa) (kg/m ) " zz (Kg/m2 s) (m/s) kt 2 (dB/m)
AlN 1.55 3.95E11 3,260 9.50E-11 3.70E7 11,350 6.0% 800
ZnO 1.32 2.11E11 5,600 7.79E-11 3.62E7 6,340 7.8% 2,500
PZT 10.95 0.98E11 7,550 3.10E-9 2.72E7 3,603 20.25% –
Al – 1.82E11 2,700 – 2.22E7 6,324 – 7,500
Mo – 3.97E11 10,280 – 6.39E7 6,214 – 500
W – 5.81E11 19,200 – 10.56E7 5,501 – 435
Au – 1.92E11 19,300 – 5.99E7 3,154 – 17,760
Ti – 1.66E11 4,500 – 2.73E7 6,071 – –
Si3 N4 – 3.96E11 3,270 – 3.60E7 11,000 – –
SiO2 – 1.17E11 2,000 – 1.25E7 6,253 – –
Si – 1.66E11 2,332 – 1.97E7 8,437 – 1,000
transformer and the dummy negative capacitance are introduced. In the BVD mode,
C0 is the static capacitance, Cm ,Lm and Rm are the dynamic capacitance, static
inductance and the loss related to the mechanical resonance, respectively. These
parameters are described as
"szz A
C0 D (3.71)
2h
8 2
Cm D k C0 (3.72)

2 t
3.5 The Calculated Influence of the Materials and Structure on the Device Performance 47
a Cm Lm Rm b Cm Lm Rm
C0 C0 R0
Rs
Fig. 3.10 The BVD (a) and MBVD (b) models of FBARs
h2
Lm D (3.73)
2kt2 C0 v2l

2 33
RD (3.74)
8C0 kt2 v2l
The BVD model only considered the mechanical loss of the piezoelectric films,
while the medium loss and the electrode loss are not included in this model. In order
to describe the electronic behavior more accurately, the Modified BVD (MBVD)
model is introduced [2]. As shown in Fig. 3.10, the resistances of R0 and Rs are
added in the model to describe the medium loss and the electrode loss. In the
practical design of the device based on FBAR, the MBVD parameters are obtained
by fitting the measured electric characteristics of the fabricated devices.
3.5 The Calculated Influence of the Materials and Structure

on the Device Performance
3.5.1 The Effects of the Electrode
In order to study the effects of the electrode on the resonant response, the device is
supposed to be a sandwich structure consisted of piezoelectric film and sandwiched
electrodes. Figure 3.11a shows the calculated frequency responses of the FBAR
devices with the electrodes of Al, Mo, W, Ti and Au using the universal equivalent
model as shown in Fig. 3.7. Here the thicknesses of the top and bottom electrodes
are both 200 nm. Figure 3.11b gives the comparisons of performance parameters
including Q value and Equivalent coupling coefficient Keff2 of the devices.
As shown in the calculated results, the device with Mo electrode has the highest
resonant frequency and Q value, which suggested that Mo is maybe the optimal
a b 1200 1.2%
Q value
4 Keff2
Au W Al Ti Mo
3 800 8%
Q value
Keff2
2
400 4%
1
0 0 0
1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 Al Mo W Ti Au
frequency (GHz) Electrodes
Fig. 3.11 The calculated results of the impedance for the FBARs with different electrodes (a) and
the performance parameters (b). The electrodes, including Al, Mo, W, Ti and Au, are 200 nm thick.
The AlN piezoelectric film is 2 m
a 3.0 b 8
W
Al
Mo
2.5 Mo Ti
Keff` 2(%)
6
Ti
f1(GHz)
2.0 Al Au
W 4
1.5 Au
1.0 2
0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6
Thickness of electrode (μm) Thickness of electrode (μm)
Fig. 3.12 The dependence of the resonant frequency (a) and the effective electromechanical
2
coupling coefficient Keff (b) on the thickness of the electrodes
material for FBAR electrode. In the case of Au electrode, which has been widely
used in biochemical applications, the resonant frequency and Q value of the device
is lowest ,which can be attribute to the low acoustic velocity and the high absorption
coefficient. In addition, because the piezoelectric film is only several micrometers,
the influence of the electrode thickness of hundreds of nanometers on the device
performance cannot be ignored. Figure 3.12 shows the resonant frequency and the
2
Keff as the function of the electrode thickness.
3.5.2 The Influences of Supporting Layer and the Residue

Silicon Layer
The supporting layer, which typically is made by silicon nitride or silicon oxide, is
need for the FBAR device with membrane or air gap to support the piezoelectric
3.5 The Calculated Influence of the Materials and Structure on the Device Performance 49
a b
2ω
Log(impedance) 2 μm 3ω 1000
2ω
Qz value
1 μm
800
0.5 μm
600
0.4 0.8 1.2 1.6 2.0 2.4 2.8 0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5
Frequency (GHz) Thickness of SiO2
Fig. 3.13 The calculated results of the impedance for the FBARs with different thickness of the
SiO2 layers (a) and the Q value (b). The Al top and bottom electrodes are both 200 nm thick
Fig. 3.14 The calculated

results of the impedance for 1 μm
the FBARs with different
thickness of the left Si layers.
The Al top and bottom
Log(impedance)
electrodes are both 200 nm 5 μm

thick
10 μm
0.4 0.8 1.2 1.6 2.0 2.4 2.8

Frequency (GHz)
structure. In addition, there is residue silicon under the membrane after bulk silicon
process in the device fabrication due to the unclean etching of silicon. In the FBAR
model, the supporting layer and the residue silicon layer are both seen as the general
acoustic transmission layers, so the influences of supporting layer and the residue
silicon layer can be simulated. Figure 3.13a shows the calculated impedance curves
for the FBAR with different thickness of supporting SiO2 layer. In this case, the
thickness of AlN film is 2 m and the top and bottom electrodes are both Al with
the thickness of 200 nm. It is seen that there is only the fundamental resonance
in curve of the device with 0.5 m supporting layer in the frequency range of 0.5–
3 GHz. However, both the fundamental and harmonics resonance appear in the cases
of other layer thicknesses. The Q-factors as the function of supporting SiO2 layer
are shown in Fig. 3.13b. Obviously, the thicker supporting layer leads to a decline
of the Q-factor.
Figure 3.14 shows the frequency responses for the FBAR device with 1–10 m
thick residue silicon layers. The structure parameters have been described as
mentioned. Here the thickness of supporting SiO2 layer is 0.5 m. There is an
obvious influence of residue silicon layers the on the device responses. Many weak
resonances with low amplitude are seen in the frequency curve in the case of high
thickness of silicon layers. In particular, for the device with 1 m thick silicon
layers, the amplitudes of the two resonant modes near 1 GHz and 2 GHz are similar.
The calculated results here suggest that it is very necessary to etch the silicon on the
backside of the device completely in the fabrication.
References
1. Rosenbaum, J.F.: Bulk Acoustic Wave Theory and Devices. Artech House, Boston (1992)
2. Chao, M.C., Huang, Z.N., Pao, S.Y., Wang, Z., Lam, C.S.: Modified BVD-equivalent circuit of
FBAR by taking electrodes into account. Proc. IEEE Ultrasonics Symp. 1, 973–976 (2002)
Chapter 4
The Deposition and Etching of AlN Film
Abstract In this chapter, we focus on the deposition and etching of AlN films.
Various thin AlN films were deposited using a RF reactive sputtering system. The
effect of sputtering parameters including RF power, ambit pressure and the ratio
of N2 /Ar and substrate temperature on the texture and microstructure of AlN films
were investigated. Additional, the AlN films were deposited on several frequently-
use metals in microelectronic field. From the tested results, the optimal sputtering
parameters were found out. For the fabrication of AlN FBAR, dry etching based on
fluorine plasma and wet etching based KOH were introduced in this chapter. The
etching mechanism, etching rate, morphologies and the influence of the film texture
and crystal quality were studied in detail.
Keywords AlN film • RF sputtering • Texture • Sputtering parameters •

Fluorine plasma • KOH wet etching
AlN, ZnO and PZT are the main piezoelectric materials used in FBAR. AlN has a
number of interesting properties such as high thermal conductivity, high electrical
insulation and chemical stability. The high piezoelectric performance and the high
acoustic velocity make AlN very suitable for many applications in MEMS especially
in FBAR.
4.1 Deposition of AlN Film by RF Magnetron Sputtering
4.1.1 Introduction
Sputtering is preferred deposition method in many applications due to a wider

choice of materials to work with, better step coverage, and better adhesion to the
substrate. During sputtering, the target at a high negative potential, is bombarded

DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-31776-7 4,
52 4 The Deposition and Etching of AlN Film
Table 4.1 The optimized

deposition process for the RF power 150 W
AlN film Ambit pressure 0.5 Pa
N2 /Ar ratio 4:6
Based vacuum 5 105 Pa
with positive argon ions (other inert gases such as Ar, He or Xe can be used
as well) created in plasma (also glow discharge). The target material is sputtered
away mainly as neutral atoms by momentum transfer and ejected surface atoms
are deposited (condensed) onto the substrate placed on the anode. During ion
bombardment, the source is not heated to high temperature and the vapor pressure
of the source is not a consideration as it is in vacuum-evaporation.
4.1.2 Experimental
In this study, various thin AlN films were deposited using a RF reactive sputtering
system (ANEIVA SPF-210F). The target was a 4-in.-diameter aluminum with
99.99% purity. The polished 1-in.-diameter (100) Si was used as the substrate. The
chamber was evacuated until the base pressure decreased to less than 3 105 Torr.
High-purity argon was then introduced and pre-sputtered the target for 15 min
before film deposition. The substrates were heated to 300ı C and kept at this
temperature during the deposition process. The RF power was turned to 120–200 W
to obtain various films. The thicknesses of all films were controlled to about 1 m.
Other sputtering parameters were maintained at constant value in this study and
summarized in Table 4.1.
The crystal structure and the orientation of the films were identified by XRD
(BRUKER-AXS) at wavelength of 0.15418 nm (Cu K’). The cross-sectional mor-
phology of films was observed by Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope
(FE-SEM, FEI SIRION 200). The profilometer (Veeco DekTak-6) was used to
measure the curvature of the radius of the substrate before and after growth of
the AlN films, from which we obtained the residual stress according to Stoney’s
equation. Multiple measurements revealed good uniformity in the stress across the
wafer.
4.1.3 The Effect of RF Power on the Film Texture
Figure 4.1 shows the XRD of the AlN films deposited on Al electrodes at room
temperature for various RF power in the range of 50–200 W. The ambit pressure
during the deposition is 0.5 Pa and the ratio of N2 /Ar is 4:6. The thickness of all the
samples is controlled about 500 nm.
4.1 Deposition of AlN Film by RF Magnetron Sputtering 53
Fig. 4.1 The XRD of the

AlN films deposited on Al AIN (002)
AIN (111)
electrodes for various RF 50 W
power levers
Intensity (arb. units)

AIN (100) AIN (200)
100 W
150 W
200 W
20 30 40 50 60
2 θ(°)
It is seen that there is only a wide band near 34ı corresponding to amorphous
phase and no other diffraction peak in the sample deposited at 50 W. The samples
deposited 100–200 W are all wurtzite hexagonal AlN structure. In the case of
100 W power, two diffraction peaks are observed at 2™ around 33ı and 36ı ,
which correspond to the AlN (002) and (100) orientation, respectively. The sample
deposited at the RF power of 150 W exhibits a single and sharp (002) diffraction
peak. However, further increase of the RF power fails to improve the (002) texture
of the film.
Generally, increase of the RF power not only enhances the sputtering yield,
but also raises the kinetic energy of the particles in the plasma. As a result,
the aluminum-nitride complex particles have sufficient kinetic energy to attach
themselves to the substrate, hence providing the atoms with increased opportunities
to move to the lowest energy state and to form a highly (002) oriented crystalline
film structure. However, the substrates are strongly attacked when the RF power
exceeds 175 W, resulting in surface damage and deterioration in the (002) texture.
4.1.4 The Influence of Ambit Pressure and the Ratio

of N2 /Ar on the Film Structure
Figure 4.2 shows the XRD of the AlN films deposited in the ambit pressure in the
range of 0.2–0.8 Pa. The results suggest that the pressure has a high influence on the
film texture. In this experiment, the RF power is 150 W and the N2 /Ar ratio is 5:5.
The sample deposited in 1.2 Pa is a (100) textured phase. When the pressure
is increased to 1 Pa, the film is a mixture of (002) and (100) textures. The films
deposited in 0.2–0.8 Pa show one texture orientation of (002).
Figure 4.3 shows the X-ray rocking curves of the samples deposited in
0.2–0.8 Pa. It is seen that the curve of the sample deposited in 0.6 Pa has a
minimum FWHM of 7.71ı suggesting that the sample is the highest (002) textured
in the mentioned samples.
Fig. 4.2 The XRD of the

AIN (100)
AlN films deposited in the AIN (111) AIN (200)
different ambit pressure. (a) 1.2 Pa

(a) 1.2 Pa; (b) 1 Pa; AIN (002)
(c) 0.8 Pa; (d) 0.6 Pa; (b) 1 Pa
(e) 0.2 Pa
(c) 0.8 Pa
(d) 0.6 Pa
(e) 0.2 Pa
20 30 40 50 60
2 θ(°)
Fig. 4.3 The X-ray rocking

curves of the AlN films
deposited in the different (a) 0.8 Pa
ambit pressure. (a) 0.87 Pa;

(b) 0.6 Pa; (c) 0.4 Pa;
FWHM = 7.71°
(d) 0.2 Pa (b) 0.6 Pa
(c) 0.4 Pa
(d) 0.2 Pa
5 10 15 20 25 30
θ(°)
Figure 4.4 shows the XRD results of the AlN films deposited at different N2 /Ar
ratio. In this experiment, the pressure is 0.5 Pa and RF power is 150 W. The results
suggest that the films deposited at a large range of 3:7 – pure-N2 have the (002)
texture. The films have mainly Al phase and some amorphous phase in the case of
1:9 and 2:8, respectively.
4.1.5 The Influence of the Substrate Temperature

on the Film Texture
The substrate temperature has also an influence on the texture of AlN films.
Figure 4.5 shows the rocking curves of the samples deposited at room temperature,
300 and 500ı C. In the deposition process, the RF power is 150 W, and the ambit
pressure is 0.5 Pa with the N2 /Ar ratio of 4:6. It is seen that the FWHM of the
4.1 Deposition of AlN Film by RF Magnetron Sputtering 55
Fig. 4.4 The XRD results of

the AlN films deposited at AIN (111)
AIN (200)
different N2 /Ar ratio.

(a) N2 /Ar D 1:9; (a) 1:9
(b) N2 /Ar D 2:8; AIN (100) AIN (002)
(c) N2 /Ar D 3:7; (d) pure N2
(b) 2:8
(c) 3:7
(d) Pure N2
20 30 40 50 60
2 θ(°)
Fig. 4.5 The XRD rocking

curves of the samples FWHM = 5.85°
deposited at (a) 500ı C,
(b) 300ı C and (c) room

temperature
(a) 500°C
(b) 300°C
(c) RT
5 10 15 20 25 30
θ(°)
rocking curve is decreased from 5.58ı to 7.71ı with the substrate temperature
increasing suggesting the improvement of (002) texture [1]. It is calculated that
the average crystal size is 27 nm using Scherrer equation. The results can be
explained in that the N and Al atoms have higher active energy and diffusion velocity
to move to the (002) plane at high temperature.
4.1.6 The Microstructure and Chemical Component
The optimized deposition can be found according to the results. Figure 4.1 shows
the optimized deposition for AlN sputtering. The deposition rata is about 300 nm/h.
Figure 4.6 shows the morphology of the AlN film deposited at optimized process.
The crystal on the film surface is of haricot shape with nearly uniform size. As
shown in the cross-view, the film is composed of column crystals with the c axis
vertical to the substrate.
Fig. 4.6 The morphology of the AlN film deposited at optimized process, (a) the surface, (b) the
cross-view
Fig. 4.7 The EDS scan of

the AlN film deposited at Al
optimized process
Al: 46.7 %
N: 48.4 %
O: 4.9 %
N
0 2 4 6 8 10
Energy (eV)
The chemical components of the films were analyzed using Energy Disperse
Spectroscopy (EDS). As shown in Fig. 4.7, the Al, N and O ratios in the film are
46.7, 48.4 and 4.9%, respectively. The film is of a slight Al-lacking state suggesting
that there may be a few Al vacancies and impurity defects.
4.2 The Structural Characteristics of AlN Films Deposited

on Different Electrodes
To realize the widespread use of AlN film on microelectronic device, the structural
characteristics of AlN film deposited on different electrodes are studied. The general
requirements for the electrodes include stable chemical property, little electrical
resistivity, the strong cohesion between the function materials and the substrate, etc.
As to the AlN devices, the structure of the AlN film is influenced by several factors
that are roughness of the bottom electrodes, the lattice mismatch between the metal
and AlN, the difference of the heat conductivity. So, for mastering the conditions
4.3 Dry Etching of AlN Films Using Fluoride Plasma 57
a b
8
FWHM of rocking curve (°)

6.14° 6.37°
5.72° 5.63°
Intensity (a.u.)
6 5.51°
W
Ti 4
Mo
2
Au
0
5 10 15 20 25 30 W Ti Mo Au Al
θ (°) electrodes
Fig. 4.8 The rocking curves (a) and FWHM (b) deposited on W, Ti, Mo and Au
for preparation, studying the structure and characteristics and realizing integration
of the devices, it is significant to compare and analyze the structural characteristics
of the AlN film deposited on different electrodes. Here the AlN films are deposited
on several frequently-use metals in microelectronic field such as W, Ti, Mo, Au, etc.
With the thickness of about 200 nm, the metal film was prepared with DC
sputtering on Si (100) substrate. A film of Ti with the thickness of 5–10 nm was
sputtered as an adhesion layer before the deposition of MoAuW and Cu. The faces
of the metal electrodes were etched by Ar ion before the AlN films were deposited.
Figure 4.8a shows the XRD rocking curve near (002) diffraction peak. The
AlN film deposited on all the electrodes all exhibit the (002) texture. Figure 4.8b
summarizes the FWHM of the rocking curves performed on the electrodes above.
4.3 Dry Etching of AlN Films Using Fluoride Plasma
4.3.1 The Dry Etching of AlN Films
In FBAR fabrication, the etching of the piezoelectric film is a key step because
a number of electro-acoustic properties of FBAR device may be affected by the
etch process, i.e., insertion loss, coupling coefficient and the quality factor. In
addition, piezoelectric film and the electrodes also form a basic configuration
for piezoelectric sensors and actuators. Thus the fabrication of AlN-based FBAR
and other piezoelectric devices require the development of well controlled AlN
etch process at sufficient high etching rate. Furthermore, exact pattern transfer,
which means, obtaining vertical sidewalls is also essential for the fabrication. The
dry etching of AlN has been reported using ion milling [2], electron cyclotron
resonance (ECR) and inductively coupled plasma (ICP) in CH4 /H2 /Ar and Cl-
based gases [3–5]. Some typical results were listed in Table 4.2. The etching using
Cl-based plasma can be done with high etching rate by forming volatile AlCl3
Table 4.2 Some dry etching results of AlN films

Etching Etching rate Film growth
method Using gas Etching conditions (nm/min) method Reference
Ion milling Ar 500 eV ion energy 30 Molecular beam [2]
epitaxy (MBE)
ECR CH4 /H2 /Ar 300 V, 1 mTorr, 200 W 30 – [3]
ECR Cl2 /H2 150 V, 1 mTorr, 1,000 W 110 – [4]
ICP BCl3 /Cl2 /O2 83 V, 10 mTorr, 500 W 90 Sputtering [5]
ICP Cl2 /H2 /SF6 /Ar 280 V, 2 mTorr, 500 W 184 MBE [6]
at high temperature (>180ıC) or Al2 Cl6 at room temperature [5]. Unfortunately,

the etching process in pure Cl-based plasma is usually isotropic as a result of its
chemical mechanism. In order to solve the problem, some available methods were
reported including adding C, H or O in the plasma to form etch-inhibiting layer
on vertical sidewalls [5, 7]. Another disadvantage of Cl-based plasma is that the
reaction products have to be carefully disposed to avoid the pollution and corrosion
damage. Beside Cl-base plasma, F-base gas is also applied for etching many kinds of
material, especially Si and its compound. The reaction produces of F-based plasma
are low corrosives and environmental safe. The etching of AlN using F-based
plasma has been seldom reported, and was found to leave the AlN surface almost
unaffected since F reacts with Al to form AlF3 which has a low volatility and may
block further etching [8].
4.3.2 Experimental
Thin AlN films with the thickness of 1 m were deposited using a RF sputtering
system (ANEIVA SPF-210F). Before AlN films deposition, 300 nm W films were
sputtering on in. Si (100) wafers as the bottom electrodes. The AlN process
parameters were optimized to obtain the strong (002) texture and good quality. The
wafers were lithographically patterned with AZ P4903 photoresist in a resolution
test array. The etching of AlN films were carried out using a conventional reactive
ion etching system (Nextral 100). In this study, we used two kinds of typical F-based
plasma, which are originated by the SF6 /Ar mixture. The RF plasma with the bias
voltage in the range of 600–1,000 V was generated by a 13.56 MHz power supply.
The total gas flow rate with different ratio of SF6 /Ar was set to 30 sccm. Process
pressure was controlled in 20 mTorr in all experiments. The temperature of the
etching samples were kept at 15ı C. Samples were all 1 1 cm2 and were exposed
to the plasma for 10–20 min. All samples were placed on the same position of the
holder to reduce the errors.
Etching rates were calculated from the depth of etched features measured with
an Alpha-step stylus profilometer after the mask was removed at three positions.
Fourier transform infrared spectroscope (FTIR, FTIR-8400S) was carried out to
analyze the etching product after etching process. The morphology of the etching
pattern was observed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM, FEI SIRION 2).
Fig. 4.9 The AlN etching 150

rate as a function of the bias
voltage for (a) pure Ar; (b) (c)
pure SF6 ; (c) 50% SF6
Etch rate (mm/min)

concentration 100
(b)
50
(a)
0
400 450 500 550 600
Bias Voltage (V)
Fig. 4.10 The dependence of 150

SF6 concentration in plasma
on AlN etching rate for three
bias voltages. (a) 600 V; (b) (c)
Etch rate (mm/min)
800 V; (c) 1,000 V 100
(b)
50
(a)
0
0 20 40 60 80 100
SF6 Concentration (%)
4.3.3 The Etching Rate
Figure 4.9 shows the AlN etching rate as a function of the bias voltage for pure
Ar, pure SF6 and the 50% SF6 concentration plasma. The AlN etching rate goes
up near-linearly with the bias voltage and is slow in pure Ar ions sputtering due to
its strong Al-N bonds energy (11.52 eV). The SF6 addition, on the other hand, has
a great impact on the process. The dependence of SF6 concentration in plasma on
AlN etching rate for three bias voltages are demonstrated in Fig. 4.10. The moderate
concentration of SF6 (around 40%) is seen to enhance the AlN etching rate by
more than triple at the same of bias voltage obviously. At the condition of 40%
SF6 concentration and 1,000 V bias voltage, the etching rate is up to 140 nm/min,
which is higher than those reported for the ion milling [2] and equal to the Cl-based
plasma using ECR and ICP [5].
Fig. 4.11 The surface micrographs of typical AlN film (a) before and after exposure in F-based
plasmas with 40% SF6 concentration for different bias voltage: (b) 600 V; (c) 800 V; (d) 1,000 V
4.3.4 The Morphologies
Figure 4.11 demonstrates the surface micrographs of the AlN films before and after
exposure in F-based plasma with 40% SF6 concentration for three bias voltages. No
obvious difference appears between the surfaces before and after exposure in 600 V.
However, in the cases of 800 and 1,000 V, rough morphologies and some pitting
and defects were found on the surfaces. Those can attribute to the damage produced
by the ion bombardments with excessive energy at high bias voltage. The samples
exposed in plasma with different SF6 concentration were also observed, but there is
no distinctness.
Figure 4.12 provides the micrographs of typical patterns etched by F-based
plasmas. The bias voltage was 600 V and the SF6 concentration was 40% in mixture
plasma. In this experiment the smallest size of features is about 2 m, which may
further reduce by improving the quality of the photolithography technology. There
are no obviously etching leavings on the surface after removal of the mask. The
etched surface is just as smooth as that of the regions masked during the etching
process. As shown in the cross section view (Fig. 4.6b), the sidewalls are quite
smooth and vertical to the surface suggesting that AlF3 formed on the pattern
sidewall play a passivation role during the etching process. It is also seen that the W
electrode is resisted to the etching process. Hence under this condition the etching
process is highly anisotropic and meets the requirements of AlN-based fabrication.
Fig. 4.12 Typical SEM micrographs of the test pattern etched using F-based plasma. The etching
condition is 600 V bias voltage and 40% concentration SF6. (a) The top view of the pattern; (b)
the cross section view
Fig. 4.13 The FTIR

spectrums of the samples
before and after exposure in
F-based plasma for 40% SF6
concentration and pure SF6 .
In this case, the bias voltage
was 600 V during the etching
process. (a) before exposure
(b) after exposure in plasma
with 40% SF6 concentration;
(c) after exposure in pure SF6
plasma
4.3.5 The Etching Mechanism
In order to clarify the etching mechanism of F-based plasma, the FTIR spectrums of
the samples before and after exposed in SF6 /Ar plasma were measured as shown in
Fig. 4.13. In this case, the bias voltage was 600 V during the etching process. The
all spectrums exhibit two absorption peaks of hexangular AlN: the E1 (high) mode
at 675 cm1 and A1 (TO) mode around 615 cm1 [9] . After etching in SF6 plasma,
clear absorption peaks are observed at 1,350 and 1,750 cm1 , which correspond to
the absorption peak of Al-F bond from AlF3 [7]. In the case of pure SF6 plasma, the
intensity of the Al-F peaks shows a little high than that of SF6 /Ar mixture. Therefore
the formation of AlF3 was confirmed.
In general, the mechanism of reaction plasma etching is the combination between
physical sputtering and chemical reaction. In this experiment, the etching rate of the
plasma with suitable SF6 concentration (near 40%) is higher than that of pure Ar
and pure SF6 plasma. Combining the confirmation of AlF3 , it is believe that the
chemical reaction has occurred. Refer to some reported reaction [10, 11], a possible
reaction may be written as:
SF6 ! 2F C SF2 "

3AlN C 12F ! 3AlF3 C N2 " C NF3 "
Accordingly, the mechanism of AlN etching in F-based plasma can be briefly

outlined: (i) F ions from the plasma reacts with AlN to form low volatile AlF3
and passivate the surface, and (ii) at the same time the ArC ions sputter the reaction
product from the surface and keep it fluoride free to initiate further reaction. Varia-
tion in plasma composition influences the ratio of sputtering desorption of AlF3 and
passivation to the etch surface. In the plasma with low concentration F ions, AlN
film is directly sputtered by ArC ions at low rate due to little chemical reaction. The
increase of concentration of F ions intensifies the chemical reaction. Meanwhile,
the ion bombardments can stimulate the chemical reaction after removing the
products and providing additional activation energy. It is expected that the balance
between the formation and removal of reaction product may be built up in the plasma
with moderate radio of F and ArC ions and result in the highest etching rate. As
shown in Fig. 4.10 the suitable SF6 concentration for the top etching rate is about
40%. As the F ions in plasma further increase, poor Ar ion sputtering leads to the
accumulation of AlF3 , which may inhibit further reaction on the etching surface,
therefore, the etching rate goes down. Additionally, in pure SF6 gas the etching rates
of plasma are higher than that in pure Ar. One explanation is that the various ions
originating from plasma such as SF5 C and SF4 C also have some effects like ArC
ion. On the other hand, the removal of reaction product AlF3 depends on physical
sputtering by ion bombardment. The increase of bias voltage corresponds to higher
ion energy so that the etching rate of AlN increases linearly with bias voltage as
shown in Fig. 4.9. Additionally, note that the ion bombardment generally is normal
to the surface. The AlF3 formed on the patterned sidewall is shadowed from ArC
bombardment and hence the lateral etching is completely blocked. In this way, the
high anisotropic pattern can be obtained in F based plasma.
4.4 The Wet Etching of AlN
4.4.1 The Wet Etching Process
The wet etching, produces negligible damage, can be highly selective, is relatively
inexpensive, and can be done with simple equipment. In addition, wet chemical
etching is a reasonable, reliable, and simple method to analyze the defects and
crystal polarity in III-nitrides [12]. Unfortunately, there was relatively little success
in developing wet etching solutions for AlN because of their excellent chemical
4.4 The Wet Etching of AlN 63
stability. The chemical etching was strongly dependent on the crystal quality and the
etch temperature. Only KOH or NaOH containing solution can be etch epitaxial and
single crystal AlN at the temperature below 80ı C [12, 13]. The hot H3 PO4 [14], and
AZ400K photoresist developer [15] were also reported can etch the polycrystalline
AlN. However, more detail information about etching behaviors of polycrystalline
AlN films is required for the micro device fabrication.
4.4.2 Experimental
The influence of the film texture on the chemical etching in KOH solution
was invested. The AlN films with the different texture and crystal quality were
prepared by sputtering. It is found that the etch rate, the activation energy and the
morphology of etching surface depend on the films texture and the crystal quality.
The micrographs of the patterns were observed from the top view and the cross
section view to detect the etching evolution and anisotropy.
The AlN films were deposited using a RF sputtering system. The thicknesses of
all the films were controlled to about 1 m. In order to investigate the effect of the
crystal quality on the etching behaviors, the substrate temperature was turned from
room temperature (RT) to 600ı C. The AlN etchant used in the experiment was 10
wt. % KOH solution. In order to demonstrate the suitability of this wet etching for
device applications, the test patterns were formed. The Ti layer with the thickness
of 200 nm was deposited on the AlN surface and patterned by the conventional
photolithography method as the mask for patterning AlN. The Ti layer is a better
candidate mask for AlN-based devices because the high cohesion to AlN and the
stability in AlN etchants.
The etch depths were obtained by Dektak stylus profilometer at different position
after the removal of the mask with an approximate 5% error. The crystal structure
and the texture of the films were identified by X-ray diffraction and rocking
curve (BRUKER-AXS) at wavelength of 0.15418 nm (Cu K’). The morphological
investigations were performed using field emission scanning electron microscopy
(FE-SEM, FEI SIRION 200).
4.4.3 The Influence of the Film Texture
Figure 4.14 displays the XRD patterns of the AlN films for three RF power levels.
The substrate temperature was RT. In the case of 50 and 100 W, the diffraction peaks
of AlN (100) and (002) were observed at 2™ around 33ı and 36ı , respectively. The
peak at 40.3ı corresponds to the W (110) orientation. With the increasing of RF
power, the (002) peak becomes stronger and sharper, while the (100) peak becomes
weaker. The sample deposited at 150 W exhibits the only (002) texture with the
full-width at half maximum (FWHM) of 0.31o, which indicates the preferred c axis
orientation.
Fig. 4.14 The XRD patterns

of AlN films prepared in three
RF powers levels. (a) 50 W;
(b) 100 W; (c) 150 W. The
substrate temperature was RT
Fig. 4.15 The etch rate as a 1500

function of temperature in 10
wt. % KOH solution for the 50 W
100 W
Etch rate (mm/min)
films deposited at different

RF power. (a) 50 W; (b) 1000 150 W (a)
100 W; (c) 150 W
(b)
500
(c)
0
30 40 50 60 70 80
Etch Temprature (°C)
Figure 4.15 shows the etch rates as a function of temperature in KOH solution for
the films deposited at different RF power. During etching, the bubbles were observed
on the sample surface; meanwhile the white floccules were formed in the etchant.
The etching occurred by the following reaction formula [16]:
AlN C 6KOH ! Al.OH/3 # CNH3 " C3K2 O #
As expected, the etch rates of all the films increase sharply as the etch
temperature increases from 30 to 80ı C. The etch rate of the film with the only (002)
texture is around 55 nm/min at 30ı C and increase to 420 nm/min at 80ı C, which is
faster than the reported value of the epitaxial films and single crystal [12]. The etch
rate of the films with the mixed (100) and (002) texture is obviously higher than the
Fig. 4.16 The typical X-ray

rocking curves of AlN films (c)
deposited at different
temperature. (a) RT; (b)
Intensity (a.u.)
400ı C; (c) 600ı C (b)
(a)
5 10 15 20 25 30
θ (°)
case of (002) texture. Combining the etching rates and the XRD patterns, it can be
conclude that the (100) plane are etched preferentially compared to the (002) plane.
This selective etching behavior was also observed in AlN (101) and (002) planes
by Ababneh et al. [17]. For the (002) texture, the c axis is normal to the substrate
and the plane parallel to the substrate is the close-packed basal plane, with either
all aluminum or nitrogen atoms. Other planes should form the lesser-packed atomic
array [18] and will suffer higher etch rate than the (002) plane in the etchant.
4.4.4 The Effects of Crystal Quality
To get more detailed understanding for the correlation between the etching behav-
iors and the film texture, the substrate temperature was turn from 300 to 600ı C to
get the higher (002) texture. The crystal quality was identified by X-ray rocking
curve. As shown in Fig. 4.3, the rocking curves strengthen in intensity and become
narrower with the increasing of substrate temperature, which means the reducing of
defects and the improvement of crystal quality.
A parameter of interest for the etching experiments is the activation energy Ea.
This is generally obtained by fitting an Arrhenius plot to the form

Ea
k D A exp (4.1)
RT
where k is the etch rate at temperature T, R is idea gas law constant (8.314 J
mole1 K1 ), and A is the pre-exponential factor which can be thought of as an
attempt frequency for the reaction between (OH) ions and the reaction surface.
Figure 4.16 shows the Arrhenius plots of the samples deposited at 300, 400, 500
and 600ıC. The etch rate of the samples deposited at 50 and 100 W were again
shown in this figure. The AlN films deposited above 300ı C were found very high
resistant to the KOH solution at the temperature less than 40ı C. It is remarkable that
Fig. 4.17 The surface morphologies before and after etching for the AlN films with different
texture. (a) the as-deposited surface of the mixed (100) and (002) texture (deposited at 50 W);
(b) the etching surface of the mixed (100) and (002) texture (deposited at 50 W); (c) the as-
deposited surface of the only (002) texture (deposited at 150 W and RT); (b) the etching surface of
the only (002) texture (deposited at 150 W and RT). The samples were both exposed in 10% KOH
solution for 30 s at 40ı C
the effective etching starts at a temperature above 60ı C for the AlN films deposited
at 600ıC. The etch rate drops significantly as the substrate temperature increased,
which is a clear indication of the dependence of the wet etching on the material
crystal quality. The Ea is different between the films with varied texture. The Ea of
the films with the mixed (100) and (002) texture is 18.3 ˙ 2.3 KJ mol1 , which is
in the range of the diffusion-limited etching mechanism (4.2–25.1 kJ mol1 ) [12].
However, the Ea of the samples with the only (002) texture is 41.5 ˙ 1.8 KJ mol1 ,
which is a typical characteristic of the rate-limited etch mechanism. The disparity of
the valves means that both reaction rate-limited and diffusion-limited mechanisms
lie in the etching reactions. It has been reported that the wet etching of the epitaxial
AlN films and single crystal usually proceeds in rate-limited regime [12, 15]. In
this experiment, due to the improving of the (002) texture, the rate-limited reaction
dominates the etching process. On the other hand, in the case of poor (002) texture,
the etch rate is very fast. The characteristics of diffusion-limited etching can be
explained that the reaction is so rapid that the solution becomes depleted of reactants
near the surface [19].
Figure 4.17 shows the surface morphologies before and after etching for the AlN
films with the different texture. The samples shown in Fig. 4.17a, b. were deposited
Fig. 4.18 The surface morphologies of the etching evolution of the AlN films deposited at 600ı C
in 10% KOH solution at 40ı C. (a) before etching; (b) 1 min; (c) 5 min; (d) the high magnification
image
at 50 W and has the mixed (100) and (002) texture. The as-deposited grains exhibit
the packed polygonal topography (Fig. 4.17a). After exposing in KOH solution for
30 s at 40ı C, the polygonal crystals were heavily destroyed and were replaced by
the snatchy hillocks (Fig. 4.17b). As for the samples deposited at 150 W with the
only (002) texture, the surface of as-deposited films consists of the lenticular-like
crystals (Fig. 4.17c). After etching for 30 s the resulting pattern (Fig. 4.17d) forms
the discontinuous column structure and exhibits the lower porosity compared to the
sample deposited at 50 W.
Figure 4.18a–c show the etching evolution of the sample deposited at 600ıC
in KOH solution at 50ı C. Figure 4.18d gives the high magnification image of
Fig. 4.18c. After the short exposure (1 min), the caved vein was clearly visible along
the grain boundary, which means that the wet chemical etching in polycrystalline
AlN starts along the grain boundary. After 5 min etching these veins have extended
downward and the homogeneous pyramid with the triangular shape have developed
on the etching surface. The faces of the pyramids are seen to be extremely smooth
and symmetric. It is also noted that all the pyramids have the same azimuthal
orientation and are approximately the same size of about 80 nm, which is close to the
grain size before etching. The shape of the pyramid is maintained after prolonged
etching time. The formation of the pyramids indicated that the etch rate of different
planes is very different due to the strong anisotropy of the AlN wurtzite structure.
Fig. 4.19 The cross section micrographs of etching patterns for the sample deposited at (a) RT
and (b) 600ı C. The samples were both exposed in 10 wt. % KOH solution at 50ı C
Figure 4.19 shows the cross section micrographs of etching patterns for the
samples deposited at RT and 600ıC. It can be seen that the Ti mask and the W
electrode show a strong resistance to the etching process. There are no obvious
etching leavings on the surface after the AlN films were completely removed.
A strong lateral etching was observed under the Ti mask for the film deposited at
RT. The lateral etching distance is about 600 nm and a little smaller than the film
thickness. For the film deposited at 600ıC, the lateral etching distance is only about
200 nm indicating that the anisotropy of the etching is improved with the improving
of the crystal quality.
References
1. Valcheva, E., Dimitrov, S., Manova, D., Maändl, S., Alexandrova, S.: AlN nanoclusters
formation by plasma ion immersion implantation. Surf. Coat. Technol. 202(11), 2319–2322
(2008)
2. Pearton, S.J., Abernathy, C.R., Ren, F., Lothian, J.R.: ArC ion milling characteristics of III-V
nitrides. J. Appl. Phys. 76(2), 1210 (1994)
3. Pearton, S.J., Abernathy, C.R., Ren, F., Lothian, J.R., Wisk, P.W., Katz, A., Constantine, C.:
Dry etching of thin-film InN, AlN and GaN. Semicondut. Sci. Technol. 8(2), 310 (1993)
4. Pearton, S.J., Abernathy, C.R., Ren, F.: Low bias electron cyclotron resonance plasma etching
of GaN, AlN, and InN. Appl. Phys. Lett. 64(17), 2294–2296 (1994)
5. Engelmark, F., Iriarte, G.F., Katardjiev, I.V.: Selective etching of Al/AlN structures for
metallization of surface acoustic wave devices. J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B 20(3), 843–848 (2002)
6. Shul, R.J., Willison, C.G., Bridges, M.M., Han, J., Lee, J.W., Pearton, S.J., Abernathy, C.R.,
Mackenzie, J.D., Donovan, S.M.: High-density plasma etch selectivity for the III-V nitrides.
Solid State Electron. 42(12), 2269–2276 (1998)
7. Saito, S., Sugita, K., Tonotani, J.: Effect of CHF3 addition on reactive ion etching of aluminum
using inductively coupled plasma. Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 44(5A), 2971–2975 (2005)
8. Wang, J.S., Chend, Y.Y., Lakin, K.M.: Reactive ion etching of pizeoelectric films for acoustic
wave device. In: 1982 Ultrasonics Symposium Proceedings, pp. 25–29 (1982)
9. Prokofyeva, T., Seon, M., Vanbuskirk, J., Holtz, M., Nikishin, S.A., Faleev, N.N., Temkin, H.,
Zollner, S.: Vibrational properties of AlN grown on (111)-oriented silicon. Phys. Rev. B 63(12),
125313–125317 (2001)
References 69
10. Watanabe, M., Mori, Y., Ishikawa, T., Sakai, H., Iida, T., Akiyama, K., Narita, S., Sawabe,
K., Shobatake, K.: Thermal reaction of polycrystalline AlN with XeF2. J. Vac. Sci. Technol.
A 23(6), 1647–1658 (2005)
11. Bollinger, D., Iida, S., Matsumoto, O.: Reactive ion etching: its basis and future. Part I. Solid
State Technol. 27(5), 111–117 (1984)
12. Zhuang, D., Edgar, J.H.: Wet etching of GaN, AIN, and SiC: a review. Mater. Sci. Eng. R 48(1),
1–46 (2005)
13. Bickermann, M., Schmidt, S., Epelbaum, B.M., Heimann, P., Nagata, S., Winnacker, A.: Wet
KOH etching of freestanding AlN single crystals. J. Cryst. Growth 300(2), 299–307 (2007)
14. Sheng, T.Y., Yu, Z.Q., Collins, G.J.: Disk hydrogen plasma assisted chemical vapor deposition
of aluminum nitride. Appl. Phys. Lett. 52(7), 576–578 (1988)
15. Mileham, J.R., Pearton, S.J., Abernathy, C.R., MacKenzie, J.D., Shul, R.J., Kilcoyne, S.P.: Wet
chemical etching of AlN. Appl. Phys. Lett. 67(8), 1119–1121 (1995)
16. Zhuang, D., Edgar, J.H., Strojek, B., Chaudhuri, J., Rek, Z.: Defect-selective etching of bulk
AlN single crystals in molten KOH/NaOH eutectic alloy. J. Cryst. Growth 262(1–4), 89–94
(2004)
17. Ababneh, A., Kreher, H., Schmid, U.: Etching behaviour of sputter-deposited aluminium
nitride thin films in H3PO4 and KOH solutions. Microsyst. Technol. 24(6), 1–7 (2008)
18. Jung, W.L., Jerome, J.C., Mohamed, B.: Plasma characteristics in pulsed direct current reactive
magnetron sputtering of aluminum nitride thin films. J. Vac. Sci. Technol. A 22(2), 260–263
(2004)
19. Vartuli, C.B., Pearton, S.J., Lee, J.W., Abernathy, C.R., Mackenzie, J.D., Zolper, J.C., Shul,
R.J., Ren, F.: Wet chemical etching of AlN and InAlN in KOH solutions. J. Electrochem. Soc.
143(11), 3681–3684 (1996)
Chapter 5
The FBAR with Membrane Structure
Abstract The FBAR has two kinds of structure which are membrane structure
and Bragg reflector structure. Both the membrane structure and the Bragg reflector
structure form a reflector interface of acoustic wave to the piezoelectric film. In this
chapter, we discuss the first structure of FBAR called membrane structure.
The FBAR uses lead zirconate titanate (PZT), Pt and Al as the piezoelectric film,
bottom electrode and top electrode, respectively. The fabrication process includes
four times sputtering and four times photolithography was demonstrated. The
resonance frequency of the PZT FBAR is near 1.45 GHz with an obvious frequency-
voltage tune character. The series resonance frequency, Keff 2 and Q-factor depends
on the bias voltage but the parallel resonance frequency does not change.
Keywords FBAR • Membrane structure • Lead zirconate titanate • Resonance

frequency • Q-factor • Frequency-voltage tune character
The FBAR has two kinds of structure which are membrane structure and Bragg
reflector structure. Both the membrane structure and the Bragg reflector structure
form a reflector interface of acoustic wave to the piezoelectric film. In this chapter,
we discuss the first structure of FBAR called membrane structure.
5.1 The Structure and Testing Method
5.1.1 The Structure of the Device
The core of membrane structure FBAR is the piezoelectric stack composed of the
electrode, piezoelectric layer and electrode. Figure 5.1 shows the sketch of the
membrane structure FBAR in this experiment. The single transmission is in the form

DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-31776-7 5,
72 5 The FBAR with Membrane Structure
top electrode G S G
piezoelectric layer bottom electrode
SiO2
Si
substrate
Fig. 5.1 The sketch of the membrane structure FBAR
Table 5.1 The materials and

layer thickness of the PZT 0.85 m
membrane structure FBAR Top electrode Al 200 nm
Bottom electrode Pt/Ti 150 nm/10 nm
Supporting layer SiO2 2 m
of single-ended input and output. The single electrode and the grounded electrode
are both located on the top of piezoelectric layer. The bottom electrode is connected
to the grounded electrode through a hole.
Here we demonstrate a membrane structure FBAR using lead zirconate titanate
[(Pb(Zr,Ti)O3, PZT]. Considering the stress matching and the piezoelectric perfor-
mance, Pt and Al are used as the bottom electrode and top electrode, respectively.
The substrate is 3 in p Si (100) wafer. The SiO2 layers grown on both side of the
wafer by hot oxidation are used as the supporting layer and the etching-stop layer.
The thickness of each is listed in Table 5.1.
5.1.2 The Testing Method
According to the measurement requirements of RF testing, the electrode should be

compatible to the Ground-Single-Ground (G-S-G) probe. The grounded electrode
is enclosed the active area of the device to shield the disturbance. The top electrode
is designed an irregular pentagon shape which can restrain the shear mode wave
effectively. Because the area of the bottom electrode is larger than the top one, the
active area (37,500 m2 ) is actually the area of the top electrode.
The resonance of the device is measured as the return loss (S11) by network
analyzer (Agilent E8358A). Figure 5.2 shows the photographs of testing system (a)
and probe (b). The testing system should be calibrated in order to exclude the noise
and loss from circumstance.
Return loss (S11) is defined as the ratio of reflective and incidence power. In the
resonance, the impedance of the device is the lowest, as well as the reflective power
and return loss. The relation of return loss S11, impedance and admittance is
5.2 The Fabrication of Membrane Structured FBAR 73
Fig. 5.2 The photographs of testing system (a) and probe (b)
1 C S11
Z D Z0 (5.1)
1 S11
1 1 S11
Y D (5.2)
Z0 1 C S11
The key performances of FBAR are Q-factor and effective electromechanical

coupling constant, which are defined as [1]

2 fp fs
2
Keff D (5.3)
4 fp

1 @†Z
Qs=p D fs=p (5.4)
2 @f s=p
5.2 The Fabrication of Membrane Structured FBAR
The membrane structure FBAR is fabricated by means of four times sputtering and
four times photolithography. This main process is shown in Fig. 5.3 and listed as
follows:
1. hot oxidation on both sides of Si wafer;
2. sputtering deposition and pattern of Pt/Ti as the bottom electrode;
3. Preparation of PZT film using sol-gel method;
SiO2
Si
Piezoelectric film
SiO2
SiO2
(1) Oxidization if Si Wafer
SiO2
Si SiO2
(5) Deposition and pattern of top electrode
SiO2
(2) Deposition and pattern of bottom Piezoelectric film
electrode
SiO2
Piezoelectric film
SiO2
Si
Si
SiO2
(6) Etching of SiO2

SiO2
(3) Deposition and Piezoelectric film Piezoelectric film

SiO2
Piezoelectric film
SiO2
Si
SiO2
SiO2 (7) Back etching of Si wafer

(4) Pattern of Piezoelectric film
Fig. 5.3 The fabrication process of the membrane structure FBAR
4. Pattering of PZT film using wet etching.

5. The deposition and pattern of Al top electrode.
6. The pattern of SiO2 on the back of Si wafer.
7. The wet etching of Si wafer.
Figure 5.4 shows the photograph of the finished device.
5.3 The Preparation and Properties of PZT Film 75
Fig. 5.4 The photograph of the finished device (a) the top view, (b) the back view
5.3 The Preparation and Properties of PZT Film
5.3.1 Preparation of PZT Film Using Sol-Gel Method
The sol-gel process, also known as chemical solution deposition, is a wet-chemical

technique widely used in the fields of materials science and ceramic engineering.
Such methods are used primarily for the fabrication of materials (typically a metal
oxide) starting from a chemical solution (or sol) that acts as the precursor for an
integrated network (or gel) of either discrete particles or network polymers. Typical
precursors are metal alkoxides and metal chlorides, which undergo various forms
of hydrolysis and polycondensation reactions. Figure 5.5 shows the main sol-gel
process of the preparation of PZT film.
1. Precursor: The precursor of titanium and zirconium includes Titanium
n-butoxide [Ti(OC4 H9 )4 ] and 15% Zirconium isopropoxide [Zr(OC3 H7 )4 ].
The precursor of plumbum is Lead acetate [Pb(OAC)2 ]. The solution is
2-methoxyethanol (CH2 CH2 OCH3 OH). The acetic acid and water is the
conditioning agent of the hydrolyzation and viscosity.
2. The PZT solution: firstly, the Zirconium isopropoxide is mixed with Titanium
n-butoxide and dissolved in 2-methoxyethanol. After refluxing and cooling to
room temperature, the uniform, stable and transparent PZT solution is obtained.
By adding some acetic acid and water into the solution to adjust the hydrolyzation
and avoid over-hydrolyzation and precipitin, we can get the PZT sol with the best
solution of 0.3 M.
3. Spin coating of PZT film: The PZT film is spin coated on the substrate. In this
experiment, the spin rotate speed is 3,000 rpm and the rotate time is 20 s. The
thickness of the PZT monolayer is about 80 nm. In order to get thicker films,
Fig. 5.5 The XRD result of

the PZT film
PZT (110)
PZT (111)
Intensity (a.u.)
PZT (100)
PZT (112)
20 30 40 50 60
2θ(°)
Fig. 5.6 The electric

hysteresis loop of the PZT
film
the spin coating process are repeated. After a PZT monolayer is deposited, the
film is annealed at 300ıC for 2 min to volatilize the organic content and get the
amorphous PZT film.
4. Rapid thermal process: The repeated spin coated film is annealed at 650ı C for
30 min to get the PZT film with perovskite phase.
5.3.2 The Structure and Properties of PZT Film
The piezoelectric performance of PZT film depends on the crystal quality and
texture [2, 3]. Figure 5.5 shows the XRD of the PZT film prepared in this
experiment. It is seen that the film has single perovskite phase and (111) preferred
orientation, which indicating high piezoelectric performance [4].
Figure 5.6 shows the electric hysteresis loop of the PZT film. The PZT film
is obviously ferroelectric with the remanent polarization of 240 C/cm2 and
5.4 The Etching Process of the Films 77
Fig. 5.7 The dielectric

constant and dielectric
dissipation of the PZT films
as the function of frequency
Table 5.2 The etching results of various agents

Agents Results Etching rate (m/min)
HF:H2 O (1:50) Heavily 0.8
BOE:2HCl:10H2 O Having rich-lead residuum 0.35
BHF:3HCl:7H2 O Having rich-lead residuum 0.5
and Laterally etched
BHF:25HCl:74H2 O C 50%HNO3 Clear edge 0.3
breakdown field strength of 50 kV/cm. Figure 5.7 shows the dielectric constant and
dielectric dissipation as the function of frequency. In the range of 1–1,000 kHz,
the dielectric constant and dielectric dissipation of the PZT film is nearly unvaried.
However, the dielectric dissipation at high frequency (>1,000 kHz) is very high,
which is a shortcoming in the application of PZT in FBAR.
5.4 The Etching Process of the Films
5.4.1 The Etching of PZT Film
The main etching methods of PZT include wet etching, plasma etching and reactive
ion etching and so on. The wet etching is a cheap and rapid etching process. The
main etching agents include HF, HCl, HNO3 , BOE (49% HF: 40% NH4F D 1:6),
BHF (40% NH4 F: HF D 1:5). The experiment results show that the etching of HF to
PZT is very rapid and not easily controlled. The pattern edges are rough and laterally
etched heavily. Because the HF has a high ability to etch zirconium and titanic, there
is some rich-lead residuum on the patterns. The mixture of BOE and HCl has a good
etching ability to PZT, but there is still some rich-lead residuum on the patterns.
In this experiment, the BHF-based mixture (BHF: HCl: H2 O D 1:25:74) is used as
etching agent to PZT. The etching process is stirred by megasonic wave. The etching
rate is about 0.3 m/min. Table 5.2 shows the etching results of various agents.
5.4.2 The Etching of SiO2
In this experiments, the SiO2 is wet etched using BHF (HF: NH4 F: H2 O D 28 ml:
113 g: 170 ml) at 40ı C. Because the SiO2 is amorphous, the etching process is
isotropic. The mask is positive photoresist. The etching rate is about 0.4 m/min.
5.4.3 The Etching of Si
In this experiment, the Si is etched using 40% KOH solution at 80ı C.The etching
rate is about 1.33 m/min in (100) direction. The mask is SiO2 layer. Because the
etching process of KOH is anisotropism, the etching rates in (100) > (110) > (111).
5.5 The Testing Results
Figure 5.8 shows the return loss curves (S11 ) of the PZT FBAR in (a) the wide range
of 0.5–2 GHz and (b) the narrow band near resonance frequency. In the testing
process, 0–20 V bias voltage is applied on the top electrode and ground to improve
the piezoelectric performance of PZT film. Because the dielectric dissipation is
increasing as the frequency, the return loss is very high. Under 0–20 V bias,
the device shows an obvious resonance phenomenon and frequency-voltage tune
character.
The resonance frequency of the PZT FBAR is 1.45 GHz with the return loss of
5.86 dB under no bias. Under 10 and 20 V biases, the return loss is 5.09 and
7.61 dB at the lower resonance frequencies of 1.44 and 1.42 GHz. Figure 5.9
a 0 b –4
Reture Loss |S11| (dB)
Reture Loss |S11| (dB)
0V
–2 10 V –5
20 V
–4 0V
–6
–6 10 V
–7
–8
20 V
–10 –8
0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6
Frequency (GHz) Frequency (GHz)
Fig. 5.8 The return loss (S11 ) of PZT-FBAR, (a) the wide band response in 0.5–2 GHz, (b) the
narrow band near resonance frequency
5.5 The Testing Results 79
1.0j 0V
0.5j 2.0j 10 V
20 V
0.2j 5.0j
0.2 0.5 1.0 2.0 5.0

10 V
–0.2j –5.0j
20 V
0V
–0.5j –2.0j
–1.0j
Fig. 5.9 The S11 Smith chart of the PZT FBAR under 0–20 V bias voltage
60 20
Amplitude of impedance (Ω)
80
50 a b
40 fp
60 15
Qy value
(%)
30
40 10
2
0V
eff
20 20 V
K
10 V
fz 20 5
10 0 0
1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 0 10 20
Frequency (GHz) DC bias voltage
Fig. 5.10 (a) The impedance curves of PZT FBAR under 0–20V bias voltages, (b) the calculated
effective electro-mechanical couple factor and Keff 2 and Q-factor in series resonance frequency
shows the Smith chart of the device under 0–20 V bias voltages. The bias has an
obvious effect on the resonance performance. Figure 5.10 shows the impedances
curves of the device under various bias voltages. The calculated effective electro-
mechanical couple factor Keff 2 and Q-factor in series resonance frequency are listed
in Fig. 5.10. It is seen that the series resonance frequency depends on the bias
voltage but the parallel resonance frequency do not change. As the increase of bias
voltage, the Keff 2 and Q-factor are both rose, which indicated that the piezoelectric
performance is improved. This frequency-voltage tune character has been reported
in other ferro-electric materials such as BaTiO3 and BST.
References
1. Takeda, S., Suzuki, S., Odaka, H., Hosono, H.: Photocatalytic TiO2 thin film deposited onto
glass by DC magnetron sputtering. Thin Solid Films 392(2), 338–344 (2001)
2. Chen, H.T., Wu, X.L., Xiong, X., Zhang, W.C., Xu, L.L., Zhu, J., Chu, P.K.: Formation
mechanism and photoluminescence of AlN nanowhiskers. J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 41(2),
758–764 (2008)
3. Sivanandan, K., Achuthan, A.T., Kumar, V., Kanno, I.: Fabrication and transverse piezoelectric
characteristics of PZT thick-film actuators on alumina substrates. Sens. Actuators A Phys.
148(1), 134–137 (2008)
4. Kao, Y.H., Lin, J.H., Kang, N.Y., Liu, Y.N.: A 2.5 GHz voltage controlled oscillator with film
bulk acoustic resonator. In: 2007 International Conference on Microwave and Millimeter Wave
Technology, ICMMT’07, pp. 89–93 (2007)
Chapter 6
Solidly Mounted Acoustic Resonator
Abstract The Solidly Mounted Resonator (SMR) is another kind of FBAR. Bragg
acoustic reflector, which is composed of a sequence of a quarter wavelength thick
layers of low and high acoustic impedance, is formed under the piezoelectric
stack to clamp the acoustic wave energy. In this chapter, the structure design
theory, simulation of frequency response and fabricated devices with the Bragg
reflector of Mo/AlN, Mo/Ti and W/Ti were discussed. A mode of transmission
line was introduced to describe the behavior of the SMR. In order to obtain a high
quality AlN film, the texture and the stress of multilayer film were investigated.
The frequency response of the SMR with AlN/Mo, Mo/Ti and W/Ti exhibit the
resonance at 1.916, 2.085 and 2.48 GHz, respectively. The devices with all reflectors
show improved Q factor compared to that of AlN/Mo device.
Keywords Solidly mounted resonator • Bragg reflector • Transmission line •

Resonance • AlN film • Q factor
6.1 The Design of SMR
6.1.1 The Structure of SMR
As shown in Fig. 6.1, the SMR is consisted of the piezoelectric stack and Bragg
acoustic reflector. In this experiment, the signal transmission has one-port input and
one-port output. The signal port (top electrode) and ground port are both on the
surface of the piezoelectric film. The bottom electrode is connected to the ground
port via the etching hole. AlN was used as the piezoelectric material. Ti, W, Mo,
Cu, Al have been used as the electrode in many literatures [1–3]. As mentioned
in Chap. 5, the AlN films deposited on W, Ti and Mo have a high (002) texture.
However, taking account of the matching of thermal coefficient of expansion and

DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-31776-7 6,
82 6 Solidly Mounted Acoustic Resonator
Top electrode G S G
Piezoelectric flim Bottom electrode
Bragg reflector
Si substrate
Fig. 6.1 The configuration of the SMR
the anti-etching of the bottom electrode, W is a perfect bottom electrode. The top
electrode is Al because of its low cost and compatibility to the semiconductor
technology.
The Bragg reflector is consisted of alternate layers of high acoustic impedance
and low acoustic impedance. In practice, the acoustic transmission performance,
the interfaces of layers, the film quality and other factors may have influences on
the device performance. In process, the texture and residual stress in AlN films on
the Bragg reflector are also very important. Typically, SiO2 , ZnO [4, 5] or AlN is
used as a low acoustic impedance material, and W or Mo is used as a high acoustic
impedance materials.
6.1.2 The Theory of the SMR
The behavior of the layers in Bragg reflector can be described in the mode of
transmission line. By connecting the input ports and the output ports of each layer,
the equivalent mode of acoustic transmission can be obtained as shown in Fig. 6.2.
The transmission matrix of the Bragg reflector with m cycles is
m
MBragg D Mlow Mhigh (6.1)
6.1 The Design of SMR 83
1th mth
AC
M1 Mh M1 Mh
at at aa ab at at aa ab
ZBragg
bl bt bl bt ZSub
Low impedance high impedance

layer layer
Fig. 6.2 The equivalent mode of SMR
where Mlow and Mhigh are the transmission matrix of the layers of high impedance
and low impedance. The equivalent acoustic impedance of the substrate is ZSub
in Fig. 6.2. Similar to the electromagnetic wave, the reflectivity of the interface
between medium 1 and medium 2 is
Z1 .!/
1 Z0
r.!/ D Z1 .!/
(6.2)
1C Z0
where Z1 is the acoustic impedance on the interface and Z0 is the characteristic

acoustic impedance of medium 1. When thickness d of the layers in Bragg reflector
is 1/4 of the propagating acoustic wave, the transmission matrix of the Bragg
reflector is
m
MBragg D Mlow Mhigh
82 32 39m
< 0 j Zl 0 j Zh =
D 4 j 54 j 5
: 0 0 ;
Zl Zh
2 Z 3m
l
0
6 7
D 4 Zh Zh 5
0
Zl (6.3)
where Zl and Zhl are the characteristic acoustic impedance of the layers of
high impedance and low impedance on the interface. So the equivalent acoustic
impedance of the Bragg reflector is
2m
M12 Zl
ZBragg D D ZS ub (6.4)
M22 Zh
Fig. 6.3 The reflectivity as 1.0

the function of frequency for W/SiO2
the one cycle W/SiO2 ,
W/AlN and Al/AlN 0.8
W/AIN
Reflectivity
0.6
0.4 AIN/AI
0.2
0.0
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0
f / f0
Therefore the reflectivity of the Bragg reflector is

2m
1
ZBragg 1 ZSub
Z0
Zl
Zh
Z0
rBragg .!/ D ZBragg
D
2m (6.5)
1C Z0 1C Zsub Zl
Z0 Zh
In order to reflect the acoustic wave effectively, the acoustic impedance ZBragg
in the interface between Bragg reflector and the piezoelectric stack should be
small enough. As shown in (6.5), the higher difference between the impedances of
the layers and more cycles of the reflectors mean the lower and better reflection
effect. For example, the characteristic acoustic impedance of tungsten is only
10.56 107 Kg/m2 s, so it is an ideal layer of high acoustic impedance. The
characteristic acoustic impedance of SiO2 is 1.25 107 Kg/m2 s, which is one
order of magnitude smaller than that of tungsten, so it is a an ideal layer of low
acoustic impedance. In practice, as to the choice of materials not only the matching
of acoustic impedance but also the preparation process of the films should be taken
into account.
According to (6.1) and (6.3), we can calculate reflection characteristic of the
Bragg reflector for the acoustic waves with different frequencies. Figure 6.3 shows
the reflectivity as the function of frequency for one cycle in W/SiO2 , W/AlN and
Al/AlN reflector. In the Fig. 6.3, is the frequency of acoustic wave corresponding to
1/4 wavelength. It can be seen that the reflectivity at f0 is higher with a wider range.
This wide range is very useful because of the thickness deviation in the deposition.
Figure 6.4 shows the reflectivity curve of the W/SiO2 reflector with different
cycles. Because of the large difference of the acoustic impedance between W and
SiO2 , the reflector with 2 cycles has high reflection efficiency. With the increase of
cycles, the inhibition of the Bragg reflector to sidelobe improves, which leads to a
steep absorption edge and suggests the high capability of frequency selection
6.1 The Design of SMR 85
a 1.0 b 1.0
0.8 0.8
Reflectivity
Reflectivity
0.6 0.6
0.4 0.4
W/SiO2 W/SiO2
0.2 0.2
1 cycle 2 cycles
0.0 0.0
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0
c f / f0 d f / f0
1.0 1.0
0.8 0.8
Reflectivity
0.6 Reflectivity 0.6
0.4 0.4
W/SiO2 W/SiO2
0.2 0.2
4 cycles 6 cycles
0.0 0.0
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0
f / f0 f / f0
Fig. 6.4 The reflectivity curve of the W/SiO2 reflector with different cycles, (a) 1 cycle; (b) 2
cycles; (c) 3 cycles; (d) 4 cycles
6.1.3 The Simulation of Frequency Response for SMR
Similar to the FBAR with sandwiched structure, the electric frequency response
of the SMR can be simulated using the model as shown in Fig. 6.2. Here the
transmission matrix of the device is
MSMR D M1 M2 MBragg MS ub (6.6)
where M1 and M2 are the transmission matrixes of the piezoelectric layer including
the top electrode and the bottom electrode. MBragg is the calculated transmission
matrix of the Bragg reflector, MSub is the transmission matrix of Si substrate.
The electric impedance of the SMR is
MSMR11 ZL C MSMR12
Zin D (6.7)
MSMR21 ZL C MSMR22
For the SMR working in air, ZL D 0, so the input electric impedance is
MSMR12
Zin D (6.8)
MSMR22
4
Qr = 868 fp π/2
Log (impedance) (Ohms)

QF = 854
3 2 π/4
K4 = 4.41%
Phase (rad)
2 0
–π / 4
1
–π / 2
fs
0
2.0 2.2 2.4 2.6 2.8
Frequency (GHz)
Fig. 6.5 The calculated frequency response of the proposed SMR
Fig. 6.6 The Q-factor at 900

serious frequency as the
function of the cycles of 880
reflector
860
Qf
840
820
800
1 2 3 4 5 6
Reflector pairs
Here we calculated the frequency response of the SMR as shown in Fig. 6.5.
The structure parameter of the device is as follows. The thickness of AlN film is
2 m. The thickness of the Al top and bottom electrodes is 200 nm. For the device
working at 2.84 GHz, the thicknesses of the tungsten and SiO2 are 485 and 550 nm
in the range of 1–3 GHz, respectively. The result shows that there are only series and
parallel frequency at 2.41 and 2.46 GHz with Qs and Qp of 434 and 427, respectively.
This suggests that the reflector has a well ability to reflect and select acoustic wave.
Figure 6.6 shows the Q-factor at serious frequency as the function of the cycle of
reflector. It can be seen that the Q-factor is improved as the increasing of the cycle.
However, when the cycle is more than 4, the Q-factor tends to an invariable. This
result suggests that the reflector with 3 or 4 cycles is enough for the actual devices.
6.2 The Preparation of SMR 87
6.2 The Preparation of SMR
6.2.1 The Bragg Reflector
In this experiment, the SMR devices utilizing different reflectors consisted of

Mo/AlN, Mo/Ti and W/Ti pairs have been demonstrated. The bottom electrode
is incorporated into the conductive Bragg reflectors, thereby evidently reducing
the parasitic resistance and the damping of the acoustic energy derived from the
separate bottom electrode. In addition, the conductive Bragg reflectors simplify the
fabrication process and provide a lower contact resistance and an efficient heat path.
The resonance frequency of ideal SMR f0 D v/ 2d, where v is the acoustic
velocity, d is the thickness of the piezoelectric film. For the SMR with AlN film,
the ideal resonance frequency is 2.84 GHz. So the thickness of each layer in Bragg
reflector should be quarter wave length of the resonance wave. Table 6.1 shows the
acoustic, thermal properties and thickness of Si, AlN, Bragg reflector layers and the
electrode.
Figure 6.7 shows the acoustic reflectivity of the Mo/AlN, W/Ti and Mo/Ti Bragg
reflectors as the function of the frequency. The cycle of the reflectors is 3. It is seen
that the Ti/W reflector can almost reflect totally in the range up to 1 GHz at the
center of 2.84 GHz. The reflection efficiency of Mo/AlN is weak near 2.84 GHz.
The acoustic reflectivity is about 0.96 with a narrow bandwidth.
6.2.2 The Fabrication of SMR
The SRM devices were fabricated on polished 3-in Si wafers. All the films were
deposited using the JGP 800 sputtering system. The detailed sputtering parameters
of each layer have been provided in Table 6.2. In order to obtain the Bragg
reflector with the high quality and the low surface roughness, the deposition
parameters were adjusted. For the three-period Mo/Ti and W/Ti reflectors, the sheet
resistivities of 0.066 /sq and 0.081 /sq were measured, respectively. In the case
Table 6.1 The acoustic, thermal properties and thickness of Si, AlN, Bragg reflector layers
and the electrode
Characteristic Attenuation Thermal Electrical
acoustic impedance coefficient expansivity resistivity
106 Kg/ms2 (1 GHz) N/m 106 /K 108 m Thickness
Ti 26:3 – 9 42 530 nm
W 103 50 4:5 5:3 480 nm
Mo 63:9 58 5:5 5:6 540 nm
AlN 34 91:5 4:5 – 1 m
Al 17:6 236:2 23 2:65 150 nm
Si 19:7 3:5 3:5 – 450 m
1.0 a 1.0 b
Reflection cofficent
0.8 0.8
0.6 0.6
0.4 0.4
Mo/AIN Mo/Ti
0.2 0.2
3 periods 3 periods
0.0 0.0
1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5
1.0 c
0.8
0.6
0.4
WTi
0.2
3 periods
0.0
1 2 3 4 5
Frequency (GHz)
Fig. 6.7 The acoustic reflectivity of the Mo/AlN, W/Ti and Mo/Ti Bragg reflectors as the function
of frequency. (a) AlN/Mo, (b) Mo/Ti, (c) W/Ti
Table 6.2 The sputtering process of the films in SMR

Ti W Al AlN
Power DC DC RF RF
180 W 120 W 100 W 150 W
Gas flow Ar Ar Ar Ar:10 sccm
40 sccm 65 sccm 10 sccm N2 :10 sccm
Pressure (Pa) 0.3 1.2 0.4 0.6
Temperature RT RT RT 300ı C
Deposition rate (nm/min) 14 25 30 4
of three-period AlN/Mo reflectors, 200 nm Mo bottom electrode with the measured

sheet resistivities of 0.96 /sq was formed. The AlN films were deposited by RF
reactive sputtering at the equal condition. The target was a 4-in.-diameter aluminum
with 99.995% purity. The chamber was evacuated until the base pressure decreased
to less than 3 105 Pa. The process parameters of AlN film were optimized to
obtain a highly c-axis orientation and good quality.
Table 6.3 The RIE process of AlN and Ti

Etching rate
Bias (V) Gas flow (sccm) Pressure (Pa) (nm/min)
AlN 500 SF6 :12 0.5 110
Ar:18
Ti 200 SF6 :20 0.3 20
Table 6.4 The wet etching process of AlN and T

Etching rate
Etchant solution Temperature (nm/min)
AlN 10% KOH 40ı C 65
Al H3 PO4 :HNO3 :CH3 COOH:H2 O D 80:5:5:10 35ı C 200
Ti HF:H2 O2 :H2 O D 1:1:20 RT 800
The AlN film is etched by RIE or wet etching. In the RIE process, the
photosensitive resist with the thickness of 10 m is used as the mask. The wet
etchant adopts 10% KOH solution. The 150 nm Ti film deposited by sputtering
is used as the mask. The etching process is listed in Tables 6.3 and 6.4. The
150 nm Al top electrode was deposited on the AlN film surface and patterned by
the conventional photolithography method.
The crystal characteristic was identified by X-ray rocking curve (BRUKER-
AXS) at wavelength of 0.15418 nm (Cu K’). The cross-sectional morphologies
of films were observed by field effect scanning electron microscope (SEM, FEI
SIRION 200) under the operating voltage of 10 kV. The resonator scattering
parameters of the finished devices were obtained using Cascade 9000TM probe
station with ACP40 probes and analyzed using Agilent 8722D network analyzer.
6.2.3 The Textures and Morphologies of the AlN Films
Figure 6.8 shows the X-ray rocking curves of AlN (002) peak of the film deposited
on the Bragg reflectors. The full width at half maximum (FWHM) of the rocking
curve is around 6.3ı for both Mo/Ti and W/Ti reflectors, which indicates preferred
c-axis orientation and high crystal quality. Although the FWHM of the rocking
curve shows only a slight broaden for the AlN/Mo reflector, there is no obvious
deterioration in the crystal quality.
Figures 6.9, 6.10, and 6.11 show the surface and cross-section view morphologies
of the AlN films deposited on the AlN/Mo, Mo/Ti and W/Ti reflectors, respectively.
It can be seen that the AlN films have a dense columnar structure. The interfaces
between the AlN films and Bragg reflectors are clearly visible and distinct.
Fig. 6.8 The X-ray rocking

curves of AlN (002) peak of (b)
the film deposited on the
(c)
Intensity (a.u.)
Bragg reflectors of
(a) AlN/Mo, (b) Mo/Ti,
(c) W/Ti (a)
5 10 15 20 25 30
θ(degree)
Fig. 6.9 The surface (a) and cross-section view morphologies (b) of the AlN films deposited on
the AlN/Mo reflectors
the Ti/Mo reflectors
the W/Ti reflectors
Fig. 6.12 The residual stress 0.0

measured from various layers
Residual Stress (GPa)
W/Ti +AIN
–0.5
Mo/Ti
–1.0
–1.5
Mo/AIN
–2.0
–2.5
1 2 3 +AIN
Layer pairs
6.2.4 The Stress of Multilayer Film
It is well known that the films deposited by sputtering have the residual stress. The
residual stress in SMR is very obvious because of the accumulating of every layer.
The high residual stress will degenerate the device performance even destroy the
device structure [6, 7]. It is thought that the thermal stress in W, Mo, Ti and AlN
is not too large due to the little difference of Thermal expansivity. However, the
main residual stress results from the sputtering process. So the sputtering parameter
should be carefully controlled to reduce the stress. Figure 6.12 shows the residual
stress measured from various layers. The all Bragg reflectors present compressive
stress. The intensity is increased as the layers. Compared with others, Mo/AlN
reflector has the largest stress while the stress in W/Ti reflector is low.
6.3 Performance Test of SMR
6.3.1 The Parameter S11 of SMR
Figure 6.13 shows the measured reflection coefficient (S11 ) as a function of the
frequency for the three samples of SMR devices from 1.8 to 2.8 GHz. A distinct
resonant phenomenon could be observed for all devices, which suggests that
the Bragg reflectors have successfully restrained the acoustic dissipation to the
substrate. The frequency response of the SMR with AlN/Mo reflector exhibits a
return loss of 6.81 dB at the center of 1.916 GHz. The SMR with Mo/Ti and
W/Ti reflectors presents the increased return loss of 12.7 and 9.5 dB at 2.085
and 2.48 GHz, respectively. There is no obvious resonance owing to the shear mode
and the higher-order harmonics. It is noted that the resonance frequencies of the
devices utilizing the all-metal Bragg reflector are a little higher than that of AlN/Mo
reflector. As can be seen from the Smith chart plots (Fig. 6.14), the loop pattern
suggests that there is a distinct resonant phenomenon.
In order to confirm that the resonator response is due to the acoustic phenomenon
rather than some electromagnetic resonator, the finished devices with multiple
thicknesses of AlN films have been tested. Figure 6.15 shows the dependence of the
resonant frequencies on the AlN film thickness for the device with W/Ti reflector. As
expected, the resonant frequency goes down near-linearly with the film thickness.
However, the measured values are nearly 0.4 GHz lower than the theoretical value.
That can be explained that the acoustic velocity of the polycrystalline AlN films is
a little lower than that of bulk material.
0
Return loss |S11| (dB)
–5
(a)
(c)
–10
(b)
Fig. 6.13 The measured
return loss(S11) of AlN-SMR
devices with three kinds of –15
1.8 2.0 2.2 2.4 2.6 2.8
Bragg stacks: (a) Mo/AlN,
(b) Mo/Ti, (c) W/Ti Frequency (GHz)
6.3 Performance Test of SMR 93
Fig. 6.14 The Smith chart plots of the devices (a) Mo/AlN, (b) Mo/Ti (c) W/Ti
a b
0 3.0
Resonate Frequency (GHz)
2.8
Calculated
–4 2.6
2.4
2.31 μm Measured
–8 1.84 μm 2.2
2.03 μm 2.0
–12 1.8
1.8 2.0 2.2 2.4 2.6 2.8 3.0 1.8 1.9 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4
Frequency (GHz) AIN film thickness (μm)
Fig. 6.15 The dependence of the resonant frequencies on the AlN film thickness for the device
with W/Ti reflector. (a) the S11 curve, (b) the dependence of frequency on thickness of AlN
6.3.2 Impedance Characteristics of SMR
Narrow band impedance responses of the resonators were shown in Figs. 6.16,
6.17, and 6.18 to extract the quality factor (Qs/p ) and the effective electromechanical
coupling content (Keff 2 ). The calculated curves using Mason model were also given
a b
4 3
π/2 π/2
fp Mo/AIN Reflector Qr = 32
Mo/AIN Reflector
3 π/4 QF = 47
fp
π/4
Phase (rad)
Phase (rad)
2
k4 = 2.42 %
2 Qr = 350 0 2 0
fs
QF = 352
1 2 –π/4 –π/4
fs k4 = 3.28 %
–π/2 –π/2
0 1
1.9 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 1.8 1.9 2.0 2.1 2.2
Fig. 6.16 Narrow band impedance responses of the resonators with Mo/AlN reflector. (a) The
calculated results; (b) The measured results
a 4 b 3
π/2 π/2
Mo/Ti Reflector
fp Mo/Ti Reflector Qr = 86
fp
3 QF = 92 π/4
π/4
Phase (rad)
Phase (rad)
2
k4 = 2.57 %
2 0 2 0
fs
Qr = 362
QF = 359 –π / 4 –π / 4
1 2
k4 = 3.75 % fs
–π / 2 –π / 2
0 1
2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 1.9 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3
Fig. 6.17 Narrow band impedance responses of the resonators with Mo/Ti reflector. (a) The
a 4
b 3
π/2 π/2
W/Ti Reflector
fp W/Ti Reflector Qr = 68
3 QF = 73
π/4 fp π/4
Phase (rad)
Phase (rad)
2
k4 = 2.76 %
2 0 2 0
Qr = 326 fs
QF = 323
1 2
–π / 4 –π / 4
fs k4 = 4.02 %
–π / 2 –π / 2
0 1
2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.9 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7
Fig. 6.18 Narrow band impedance responses of the resonators with W/Ti reflector. (a) The
References 95
Table 6.5 The performance fs (GHz) fp (GHz) Keff 2 (%) Qs Qp

of AlN SMR with three kinds
of Bragg Mo/AlN 1.916 1.935 2.42 32 49
Mo/Ti 2.085 2.107 2.57 86 92
W/Ti 2.480 2.508 2.76 68 77
to compare. From the steepness of the impedance phase curve the quality factor can
be calculated at series and parallel resonances, respectively [5]:

1 @†Z
Qs=p D fs=p (6.9)
2 @f s=p
Here fs and fp are the series and parallel resonance frequencies, respectively.
Keff 2 is related to the difference in series and parallel resonant frequencies and can
be calculated using the following equation:

2 fp fs
2
Keff D (6.10)
4 fp
Table 6.5 listed the resonance frequencies, Q-factors and the effective electrome-
chanical coupling contents of the device with various reflectors.
The all reflectors show good capabilities of sidelobe suppression and frequency
selection. The comparison of the performance parameters of the devices indicates
that the devices with conductive reflector have improved Q factor compared to the
conventional device.
References
1. Ruby, R.: Review and comparison of bulk acoustic wave FBAR, SMR technology. In:
Proceedings – IEEE Ultrasonics Symposium, pp. 1029–1040. New York, NY (2007)
2. Kerherve, E., Ancey, P., Aid, M., Kaiser, A.: BAW technologies: development and applications
within MARTINA, MIMOSA and MOBILIS IST European projects. In: Proceedings – IEEE
Ultrasonics Symposium, pp. 341–350. Vancouver, BC (2006)
3. Yim, M., Kim, D.H., Chai, D., Yoon, G.: Effects of thermal annealing of W/SiO2 multilayer
Bragg reflectors on resonance characteristics of film bulk acoustic resonator devices with cobalt
electrodes. J. Vac. Sci. Technol. A Vac. Surf. Films 22(3), 465–471 (2004)
4. Corso, C.D., Dickherber, A., Hunt, W.D.: Lateral field excitation of thickness shear mode waves
in a thin film ZnO solidly mounted resonator. J. Appl. Phys. 101(5), 054514–054517 (2007)
5. Satoh, Y., Nishihara, T., Yokoyama, T., Ueda, M., Miyashita, T.: Development of piezoelectric
thin film resonator and its impact on future wireless communication systems. Jpn. J. Appl. Phys.
44(5A), 2883–2894 (2005)
6. Zavada, J.M., Nepal, N., Lin, J.Y., Jiang, H.X., Brown, E., Hommerich, U., Hite, J., Thaler, G.T.,
Abernathy, C.R., Pearton, S.J., Gwilliam, R.: Ultraviolet photoluminescence from Gd-implanted
AlN epilayers. Appl. Phys. Lett. 89(15), 157–162 (2006)
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658–663 (2006)
Chapter 7
The Applications of FBAR in RF Filters
Abstract The FBAR filter have a good application prospect, which can work at
1–20 GHz with high Q-factor, small size, low loss, preferable temperature stability
and processing technical compatible with the CMOS IC. The topology of the
FBAR filters includes trapezoidal type, bridge type and mixed type. Additional, the
acoustic coupled FBAR filters include stacked crystal filter and coupled resonator
filter. In this chapter, typical FBAR filter for PCS CDMA, FBAR duplexer and
oscillator are demonstrated. For FBAR filter, as the increasing of the order, the inter
loss is a little increased, but the attenuation out of the band is greatly reduced. The
filter with seven-order FBAR has good linear phase and rectangle coefficient .
Keywords Filter • Duplexer • Oscillator • Topology • RF communication •

BVD mode
At present the filters in RF communication system are mainly based on SAW

resonators and ceramic dielectric resonators. The SAW resonators have three aspects
of disadvantages. Firstly, the interdigitated electrode is difficult to sustain high
power, which is a limit for RF transmitters. Secondly, the frequency of SAW
devices depends on the line width of the interdigitated electrode. It is difficult to
fabricate an electrode with low line width working with a frequency higher than
1 GHz, which can not meet the needs of next-generation communication system.
Thirdly, the piezoelectric crystals and the fabrication used in SAW devices are not
compatible with the IC process leading to the fact that the chip is so large that
devices can not integrate with other circuits. The ceramic dielectric resonators have
a high performance, but the size is very large. So the ceramic dielectric resonators
can not meet the needs of the miniaturization and integration of RF communication
system.

DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-31776-7 7,
98 7 The Applications of FBAR in RF Filters
7.1 The Topology of the FBAR Filters
Based on FBAR, the filter have a good application prospect, which can work at
1–20 GHz with high Q-factor, small size, low loss, preferable temperature stability
and processing technic compatible with the CMOS IC. In 2001, Agilent Technolo-
gies developed a FBAR duplex filter and became the first company to commercialize
the FBAR duplex filter the next year which triggered worldwide research climax to
the FBAR communication system. Now FBAR has been used mainly as the filter,
duplexer and voltage controlled oscillator in PCS, CDMA and W-CDMA system.
By electrical cascade or acoustic coupling the filter can be made of several FBARs,
which has many good characteristics.
Generally, the structure of the FBAR filters includes trapezoidal type, bridge type
and mixed type. Figure 7.1 shows the sketch of the three types of FBAR filters.
Trapezoidal type filters are mainly adopted and have steep depression effect, but
the suppression is low for the useless frequency band. Bridge type filters have low
roll-off factor and high selectivity, but these filters need more FBAR than bridge
type filters, because at least two resonators can generate a polar and a transmission
zero. Some communication systems with wide application, such as W-CDMA, use
the mixed type filters. The filters of this type are composed of trapezoidal and
bridge type FBAR and have a high ability to select frequency band with steep
response.
a b FBAR
FBAR FBAR
FBAR
FBAR FBAR
FBAR
FBAR1 FBAR3
FBAR2′ FBAR4′
FBAR2 FBAR4
FBAR1′ FBAR3′
Fig. 7.1 The topology of the FBAR filters, (a) trapezoidal type (b) bridge type (c) mixture type
7.2 The Design of FBAR Filters 99
7.2 The Design of FBAR Filters
7.2.1 The Working Principle of FBAR Filters
In this section, we take the trapezoidal type filters as the example. The filters are
composed of a set of series FBAR and a set of parallel FBAR. The FBAR have
nearly same performances, but the resonance frequency of the parallel FBAR is a
little lower than the series FBAR. Figure 7.2 shows the frequency responses of the
fp
|Z|
series resonator
fs
fdotune f
|Z| fp
shunt resonator
fs
f
Transmission
–3 dB f
pass-
band
lower upper
stopband stopband
–20 dB
Fig. 7.2 The frequency responses of the single series and parallel FBAR devices and the cascading
filters
Fig. 7.3 Butterworth-Van Cm Lm Rm

Dyke (BVD) equivalent
circuit of FBAR
C0 R0
R1
single series and parallel FBAR devices and the cascading filters. For the filters
working at the center of f0 with pass band of f, the series and parallel resonance
frequency of the series FBAR should be f0 and f0 C f/2, respectively. In contrast,
the series and parallel resonance frequency of the parallel FBARs should be f0 and
f0 f/2, respectively.
With the input signal working at the frequency of f0 , the series FBARs work at
resonance state with low resistance. At the same time, the parallel FBARs deviate
from the resonance state and have high resistance. Therefore, the attenuation of the
signal with the frequency of f0 is very low after passing the filters. Conversely, as
to the input signal with the frequency of f0 f/2, because the series FBARs work
at high resistance state whereas the parallel FBARs work at low resistance state, the
signal is multiple weaken. By this way, the wave filtering is realized.
7.2.2 The Design of the FBAR Filters
According to the impedance expression of FBAR or the Mason model showed by the
Fig. 7.3a, the impedance characteristics and transmission parameters (S parameters)
of the FBAR assigned specific material and geometric parameters can be simulated.
But in practice, because of the low process accuracy, the characteristics deviation
of the film material and so on; the final produce may deviate from the theoretical
calculation so that the FBAR filter may have errors.
Near the resonance frequency, the circuit of FBAR is equivalent to the MBVD
model in the Fig. 7.3b, which has a series resistance to simulate the loss of the
electrode and the lead wire compared with the Mason model.
The FBAR response and the performance parameters are usually given by using
Butterworth-Van Dyke (BVD) equivalent circuit. The BVD equivalent circuit of a
FBAR is shown in Fig. 7.3, where C0 is the clamped capacitance, Rs is the serious
resistance, Lm , Cm and Rm are motional inductance, motional capacitance, and
motional resistance of the resonator, respectively. The BVD parameters provide a
direct relation between the measured electrical quantities and the physical properties
of the resonator. The BVD parameters can be obtained by means of the least
squares fitting routine available in the advanced design system (ADS) software.
7.2 The Design of FBAR Filters 101
For FBAR, the series resonant frequency fs and parallel resonant frequency fp are
determined by
1
fs D p (7.1)
2
Lm Cm
1
fp D q (7.2)
2
C0
Lm CCmmCC 0
The Q factor and the effective electromechanical coupling coefficient Keff 2 can
be derived by the expression:
2
fs Lm
QD (7.3)
Rm
.
=2/.fs=fp /
2
Keff D (7.4)
tan .
=2/.fs=fp /
For the FBAR filters, the transmission matrix of the FBAR in series arms can be
written as

1 Z1
Ms D (7.5)
0 1
where Z1 is the input impedance of the series FBAR. And the transmission matrix
of the FBAR in parallel arms is

1 0
Ms D (7.6)
1=Z2 1
where Z2 is the input impedance of the parallel FBAR. The transmission matrix of
concatenation connection is

AB
M D D .Ms Mp /n (7.7)
C D
where n is the order of the concatenation connection.

From the relation of the transmission matrix and S parameters, the parameters
S11 and S12 of the filter can be obtained by
A C B=Z0 CZ 0 D
S11 D (7.8)
A C B=Z0 C CZ 0 C D
2
S21 D (7.9)
A C B=Z0 C CZ 0 C D
a b Electrode
Electrode
Piezoelectric layer
Piezoelectric layer
Coupling layer
Piezoelectric layer Piezoelectric layer
Electrode Electrode
Fig. 7.4 (a) Stacked crystal filter and (b) coupled resonator filter
In order to make the response of the filter have a central symmetry at the
frequency of f0 , the requirement below should be taken into account:
1
Z02 D (7.10)
.2
f0 /2 C1 C2
where C1 and C2 are the Static capacitances of the series arm and parallel
arm, respectively. The simulation result shows that ratio of C1 and C2 has an
obvious influence on the bandwidth. And in practice, the filter should have enough
bandwidth, low insertion loss, and high suppressed frequency band. On the other
hand, the square ratio of the filter should be closed to 1. So the ratio of C1 and
C2 should be carefully designed. Generally, the suppressed frequency band can be
increased by increasing the orders of the filter.
When designing a FBAR filter in practice, on the one hand a wide bandwidth and
a low insertion loss are wanted to make a lossless transmission for the input signal;
on the other hand enough stop-band is wanted to suppress the transmission of the
signal in other band. Furthermore the squareness factor of the filter is also required
as near to 1. So the ratio of the static capacity need be selected compromisingly.
Generally speaking, one order filter can not satisfy the requirement to the stopband,
then the order of filter need increasing to amplify the suppression of the stopband.
7.2.3 The Acoustic Coupled FBAR Filter
As shown in Fig. 7.4, two kinds of the acoustic coupled FBAR filters include stacked
crystal filter and coupled resonator filter. The stacked crystal filter is composed of
two piezoelectric layers. The middle electrode is grounded. The bandwidth of the
stacked crystal filter is not very wide. If the acoustic couple layer is inserted into
the two piezoelectric layers, the bandwidth of the filter may increase. This mode
is called coupled resonator filter. The degree of coupling can be adjusted by the
acoustic couple layer.
7.3 The Example of a FBAR Filter for PCS CDMA 103
7.3 The Example of a FBAR Filter for PCS CDMA
The FBAR filters were produced by Avago Company for PCS CDMA in commerce.
Today these FBAR filters have been widely used and mature technique FBAR
products. In this section, we discuss the design of the FBAR filters for PCS CDMA.
PCS CDMA system is a FDD system working at 1,900 MHz. So the diplexers are
used for the isolations of Tx and Rx signals. The frequency bands of Tx and Rx
are 1,850–1,910 MHz and 1,930–1,990 MHz, respectively. The interval of the Tx
and Rx is only 20 MHz. The requires of the CDMA standard for diplexers are:
(1) The band width is 60 MHz (1,850–1,910 MHz) with the insertion loss lower
than 3.5 dB; (2) The attenuation of the Tx is larger than 35 dB in the Rx band
(1,930–1,990 MHz); (3) The attenuation of second harmonic is larger than 30 dB;
(4) VSWR < 2:1. In order to satisfy the requirements, the pass band must change
to the stop-band in the range of 20 MHz.
Here AlN and Al were used as the piezoelectric layer and the electrode for
FBAR, receptively. Figure 7.5 gives the topology of the filters with three orders,
five orders and seven orders. For the filter with the pass band of 1,930–1,990 MHz,
the thickness of AlN is designed to be 1.97 m. The thickness of the top and bottom
electrodes for the FBARs in parallel arms is 0.2 and 0.57 m, respectively. For the
FBARs in series arms, the thickness of the top electrode for the FBARs in series
arms is 0.52 m, and other parameters are same to the ones in parallel arms.
Fig. 7.5 The topology of the

filters with three orders (a),
five orders (b) and seven
orders (c)
Fig. 7.6 The calculated 0

result of the seven-order
FBAR filter
S21 (dB)
–30
–60
1.8-109 1.9-109 2-109 2.1-109
Frequency (GHz)
In practice, the frequency can be tuned by adjusting the thickness of both

piezoelectric films and the electrodes. Here the frequency is tuned by means of
changing the thickness of the electrode due to the convenience of fabrication
process. In addition, the areas of the electrode are related to the stop-band and the
insertion loss of the filters.
From (7.8) to (7.9), the S12 parameters of the FBAR filters can be calculated.
Figure 7.6 shows the calculated result of the seven-order FBAR filter. As the
increasing of the order, the inter loss is a little increased, but the attenuation out
of the band is greatly reduced. The insertion loss of the seven-order FBAR filter is
2.8 and 2.2 dB at 1,930 and 1,990 MHz, respectively. The minimum insertion
loss in the pass band is 0.94 dB. The filter has good linear phase and rectangle
coefficient (squareness factor). The bottom point of the stop-band is 1,908 MHz
with the attenuation of 57.5 dB. And the top point of the stop-band is 2,001 MHz
with the attenuation of 60 dB.
The signal isolation of the Rx filter is not very good in the Tx frequency
band because the attenuation of the signal in 1,910 MHz is 41.38 dB while
in 1,850 MHz it is 26.38 dB. The method of improvement is introducing new
attenuation point for which a parallel inductance could be added as shown in
Fig. 7.7. From the transmission characteristics curve of the FBAR filter, it can be
seen that the attenuation of the signal in Tx band has been obviously increased.
7.4 The Duplexer and Oscillator Based on FBAR 105
Fig. 7.7 The transmission Z0

characteristics curve of the
seven orders FBAR filter with
and without inductor
Vin Z0
With inductor
S21(dB)
–30
Without inductor
–60
1.8-109 1.9-109 2-109 2.1-109
Frequency (Hz)
7.4 The Duplexer and Oscillator Based on FBAR
7.4.1 Duplexer Based on the FBAR
The duplexers composed of Tx and Rx filters are very important in the commu-
nication system. The advantages of the FBAR duplexers include small size, high
Q-factor, high sensitivity and strong ability of power. Figure 7.8 shows the sketch of
the FBAR duplexers, where Tx is the emission port, Rx is the receptive port and Ant
is the antenna. There is a œ/4 delay line between the Tx and Rx filters to isolate the
signals and realize the duple communication. The transmitting filter and receiving
filter in the duplexer are both composed of several series and parallel FBARs.
Figure 7.9 shows the PCM-CDMA duplexers fabricated by EPCOS Company
[1]. The size of the duplexers is 3.8 mm 3.8 mm 1.1 mm. The stop-band is up
to 10 GHz with the characteristic impedance of 50 and temperature coefficient of
resonance frequency of 20 106 /K.
Fig. 7.8 The sketch of the

FBAR duplexers
Fig. 7.9 The PCM-CDMA

duplexers fabricated by
EPCOS Company
7.4.2 The Oscillator Based on FBAR
The Wireless Communication has widely demands for VCO (Voltage Controlled
Oscillator). In the range of 500 MHz–5 GHz, the FBAR based VCOs has many
advantages in size, performance and cost compared with SAW and medium
oscillators [2]. As shown in Fig. 7.10, Vanhelmont et al. [3] have developed a
series FBAR based on VOC which has a frequency up to 2 GHz and a size of
2.8 mm 2 mm, a working current of 1.2–1.5 mA and a working voltage more
than 2.7 V. The phase noise is 99 and 120 dBc/Hz in the shifting of 10 kHz and
100 Hz, respectively. The VOC can be integrated in the RF system. Recently, the
FBAR based on VOC with frequency of 2.5 GHz [4] and 5 GHz [5] has been also
developed.
7.4.3 The Integration of FBAR in RFIC
As mentioned above, based on FBAR, it can be realized to produce filters,

duplexes and VOC devices with small size and high-performance for RF commu-
tation. Because the fabrication process of FBAR is compatible with the COMS
7.4 The Duplexer and Oscillator Based on FBAR 107
a b
+
−
R1 L1
C0
FBAR C1 C4
C2 L3 RLads
Fig. 7.10 The FBAR VOC developed by Vanhelmont, (a) the circles; (b) the VOC system
Fig. 7.11 (a) The CMOS integrated FBAR; (b) The FBAR System on a Chip
semiconductor process on hand, the devices based on FBAR, such as LNA (Low
Noise Amplifier) and mixer can be integrated into one chip to diminish the size and
improve the performance for RF system. So FBAR is considered as a landmark for
the RFIC. As shown in Fig. 7.11a, the FBAR and peripheral circuit are fabricated
separately, and then assembled by connecting and bonding process [6–8]. This
integration technology can be further developed to SOC (System On a Chip).
Figure 7.11b shows the valid front RF integrated system of a RF front-end circuit
based on FBAR. The system includes a one port LNA, a differential transducer
with a medium insertion loss to drive a band-pass FBAR filter with resonance at
2.14 GHz. The output of the FABR filter is connected to a difference mixer. The
mixer makes the frequency of the RF signal decrease to base frequency. The size of
the whole IC is only 2.44 mm2 .
References
1. Heinze, H., Schmidhammer, E., Diekmann, C., Metzger, T.: 3.8 3.8 mm2 PCS-CDM a
duplexer incorporating thin film resonator technology. In: Proceedings – IEEE Ultrasonics
Symposium, pp. 425–428. Montréal, Canada (2004)
2. Aberg, M., Ylimaula, M., Ylilammi, M., Pensala, T., Rantala, A.: A low noise 0.9 GHz FBAR
clock. Analog Integr. Circuits Signal Process. 50(1), 29–37 (2007)
3. Vanhelmont, F., Philippe, P., Jansman, A.B.M., Milsom, R.F., Ruigrok, J.J.M., Oruk, A.:
A 2 GHz reference oscillator incorporating a temperature compensated BAW resonator. In:
Proceedings – IEEE Ultrasonics Symposium, pp. 333–336. Vancouver, Canada (2006)
4. Kao, Y.H., Lin, J.H., Kang, N.Y., Liu, Y.N.: A 2.5 GHz voltage controlled oscillator with film
bulk acoustic resonator. In: 2007 International Conference on Microwave and Millimeter Wave
Technology, ICMMT’07, pp. 89–93. Builin (2007)
5. Zhang, H., Kim, J., Pang, W., Yu, H., Kim, E.S.: 5 GHz low-phase-noise oscillator based on
FBAR with low TCF. In: Digest of Technical Papers – International Conference on Solid State
Sensors and Actuators and Microsystems, TRANSDUCERS’05, pp. 1100–1101. Seoul, South
Korea (2005)
6. Larson III, J.D.: A BAW antenna diplexer for the 1900 MHz PCS band. In: IEEE Ultrasonics
Symposium, pp. 863–868. Caribe Hilton (2000)
7. Piazza, G., Stephanou, P.J., Black, J.P., White, R.M., Pisano, A.P.: Single-chip multiple-
frequency RF microresonators based on aluminum nitride contour-mode and FBAR technolo-
gies. In: Proceedings – IEEE Ultrasonics Symposium, pp. 1187–1190. Rotterdam, Holland
(2005)
8. Schmidhammer, E., Bader, B., Sauer, W., Schmiedgen, M., Heinze, H., Eggs, C., Metzger, T.:
Design flow and methodology on the design of BAW components. In: IEEE MTT-S International
Microwave Symposium Digest, pp. 233–236. Long Beach, CA (2005)
Chapter 8
The FBAR Excited by Lateral Filed
Abstract Thickness filed excitation and lateral filed excitation are the two kinds of
excitation mode in piezoelectric resonator. In this chapter, shear mode FBAR excited
by lateral filed is demonstrated in theory and experiment. Theoretical analysis of
the Christoffel equation shows that a shear mode wave along thickness direct can
be excited in c-axis-oriented ZnO or AlN with an in-plane excitation field oriented
in any direction on the wafer. The electric characteristics of LFE resonators are
deduced according to the potential solved from the plane wave formalism. A real
LFE FBAR with solid mounted structure is fabricated and the performance is
presented. The average Q-factor of the devices is approximately 520 in air, 408
in water and 313 in glycerol, respectively.
Keywords Lateral filed excitation • C-axis-orientation • Q-factor • Christoffel

equation • Biochemical sensor • Impedance
In the past, piezoelectric AlN and ZnO thin films have been used in the fabrication
of thin film bulk resonators (FBARs) for high frequency filters and mass loading
sensors. Typically, these devices are operated in the thickness excited longitude
mode in which the frequency can be turned simply by varying the thickness of
piezoelectric film. Traditionally, piezoelectric resonators have been excited with
the external electric filed parallel to the resonator plate normal (thickness filed
excitation, TFE). Recently, however, excitation in which the exciting filed is
perpendicular to the plate normal (lateral filed excitation, LFE) has been receiving
more attention. In this chapter, another kind of FBARs which use lateral filed to
excite the shear mode acoustic wave will be exhibited.
DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-31776-7 8,
110 8 The FBAR Excited by Lateral Filed
8.1 Introduction
8.1.1 Two Kinds of Excitation Mode in Piezoelectric Resonator
TFE and LFE in piezoelectric resonator configuration have been shown in

Fig. 8.1a, b. In TFE mode, z-directed external electric field excites a z-propagating
longitudinal or compressive acoustic wave, while x- or y- directed external electric
field that is in in-plane direction of the piezoelectric film excites z-propagating shear
acoustic wave, which is called lateral field excitation. So it is called thickness shear
mode (TSM) wave. The TSM wave propagates back and forth along the thickness
direction of the film. If most of the wave is reflected from the top and bottom
surfaces of a piezoelectric film, a standing wave is formed.
Although the configuration shown in Fig. 8.1b permits a relatively computation
of the clamped, it is not a practical structure because the acoustic thickness d is
about half the acoustic wavelength and will generally be much smaller than the other
dimensions. A more practical geometry is shown in Fig. 8.2a. The electrodes located
on one surface of piezoelectric material can generate an electric field consisting of
a primarily lateral component which may excite the thickness shear mode acoustic
wave. The electric field flux distribution which can be calculated by finite element
method depends on the size and configure of given electrodes. This phenomenon is
illustrated in Fig. 8.2b, c.
The most common type of TSM resonator is the quartz crystal microbalance
(QCM). This kind of QCMs is made from thin plates of AT-cut quartz or LiTaO3 .
These devices have been shown to be highly sensitive as gravimetric sensors in both
vapor phase and in liquid phase sensing.
a b
E
Longitudinal
Wave Shear Wave
E
Fig. 8.1 Two electrical fields used in piezoelectric resonator: (a) Thickness filed excitation (TFE)
and (b) lateral field excitation (LFE)
a b c
E
Shear Wave
E E
Fig. 8.2 Practical realization of LFE resonator. (a) Practical geometry; (b) electric field distribu-
tion in large gap between electrodes; (c) electric field distribution in low gap between electrodes
8.1 Introduction 111
8.1.2 Lateral Filed Excitation FBARs
Conventional FBARs typically use thickness-directed field to excite an acoustic

wave in the resonator, and are called TFE FBARs. Similar to that occurred in AT-
cut quartz, it is possible to excite TSM wave in FBARs by LFE. So this kind of
film bulk acoustic resonator is called lateral field excitation FBARs (LFE FBARs).
The frames of thickness and surface electrodes above mentioned have both been
applied in LEF FBARs. The LFE FBARs with two electrode frames are made in a
structure similar to Fig. 8.2a, b. The input and output electrodes of the device are
both located on one surface of piezoelectric films, which in turn, is supported by
thinned membrane. The gaps separating the electrodes of these devices are made
small in order to maximize the efficiency of the devices.
Compared with TFE FBARs, there are three obvious advantages in application
and fabrication of LFE FBARs as follows.
1. Higher Q factor in high frequency
As the thickness of the piezoelectric film is reduced in order to achieve a
higher resonant frequency, the electrode layers constitute a greater portion of
the resonator. Since the metal material that forms the electrode is a source of
acoustic wave scattering and damping, the TFE FBARs suffer reduced Q factors
due to the presence of two metal layers in the acoustic path. LFE FBARs, on the
other hand, do not have electrodes that generate the electric field directly in the
major acoustic path. So the greatest vibration motion region is free of electrodes,
resulting in the shear acoustic wave used in LFE FBARs generally have less
acoustic attenuation than the longitudinal acoustic wave used in TFE FBARs.
That is to say, LFE FBARs have higher Q factors than traditional FBARs.
2. Better performance for bio- and chemical sensors worked in liquids
Conventional FBARs operated as mass loading sensors have been proven in
possession of high sensitive and widely application anticipation. However, the
particle displacement of the propagating acoustic wave in a longitudinal bulk
mode is normal to the surface of the film and generates compressional waves in
the medium adjacent (e.g. blood or serum) to the device surface. When operated
in an adjacent liquid medium, the longitudinal mode energy is dissipated into
the liquid for devices utilizing waves that propagate at a velocity higher than the
sound velocity in the liquid. This results in a highly reduced quality factor, Q,
and poor mass resolution in the application of FBARs sensors.
Excitation of a thickness shear mode in a piezoelectric bulk is better suited
for liquid-phase sensing applications due to the shear particle displacement of
the acoustic wave in the piezoelectric film. In the LFE FBARs, the important
point is that for an electric field in the horizontal plane, parallel to the surface,
TSM wave will be generated with a propagation direction normal to the surface
and that piezoelectric coupling does not occur in the direction normal to
the surface. This is necessary to ensure a liquid-phase biosensor platform in
which particle displacement is predominantly parallel to the surface of the device.
So the adjacent liquid medium cannot effectively support a shear wave and very
little energy is leaked into the liquid, and this result in minimal damping of the
thickness shear mode. On another hand, for biosensor applications, removing
the electrode from the acoustic path means that biological molecules can be
immobilized directly onto the region of highest particle displacement which
should result in greater sensitivity of the sensor. In a word, the LFE FBARs with
TSM are the preferred choice for liquid operation.
3. Simple fabrication
LFE FBARs require only one layer of metallization for electrodes and a
process of Si back etching, thereby evidently simplifying fabrications compared
with traditional FBARs which have to be patterned another layers including
bottom electrodes, piezoelectric films.
8.2 Theoretical Backgrounds
8.2.1 The Excitation and Thickness Shear Mode

Wave Propagation
The deduction, a piezoelectric bulk resonator with the electrodes with the frame of
thickness as shown in Fig. 8.2 was considered. With the verification of the ZnO or
AlN crystal orientation in hand, it is possible to solve the Christoffel equation to find
the modes of propagation in the bulk given a defined electrical excitation direction.
We begin by considering the no piezoelectric Christoffel equation
2
k liK cKL lLj vj D ! 2 vi (8.1)
where k D !=v Q a , ¡ is the density of the material, vi and vj are the particle
polarization direction vectors, and the liK matrix is in the form of
2 3
lx 0 0 0 lz ly
liK D 4 0 0 0 lx 0 lx 5 (8.2)
0 0 lz ly lx 0
where the nonzero terms come from the propagation vector
lO D lx iO C ly jO C lz kO
The lLj matrix is simply the transpose of liK , and cKL is the material stiffness
tensor rotated according to the desired Euler angles. It is well known that the ZnO
and AlN thin films belong to a hexagonal system with a crystal class of 6 mm.
Since the c axis is oriented normal to the surface, we will arbitrarily choose to
align the z coordinate axis along this crystal axis for our calculations as shown
in Fig. 8.2. For thickness shear mode propagation, wave propagation is defined to
8.2 Theoretical Backgrounds 113
be in the z direction, so lx and ly go to zero and lz goes to 1. Equation (8.1) is used

to solve for directions and velocities of bulk waves propagating in the substrate, but
it does not account for the piezoelectric properties of a material nor the possibility
of the generation of these waves by an electric field. For this reason, we turn to the
piezoelectric Christoffel equation
( " # )
eKL mj .mi eiL /
k 2
liK E
cKL C lLj vj D ! 2 vi (8.3)
mi "Sij mj
where eKj is the piezoelectric coupling tensor, "ij S is the 3 3 permittivity tensor
at constant strain, m is the vector corresponding to the direction of the electric
excitation field, and now cKL E corresponds to the 6 6 stiffness tensor at a constant
electric field. As can be seen, Eq. (8.3) is similar to Eq. (8.1) but for the inclusion
of the piezoelectric and permittivity tensors, which apply piezoelectric “stiffening”
to the stiffness tensor.
For piezoelectric material which has a hexagonal symmetry, the stress and
electric field are related to each other as
2 3 2 3
0 0 e31 0
6 0 0 e 72 3 607
6 32 7 6 7
6 7 Ex 6 7
6 0 0 e33 7 4 6 T3 7
6 7 Ey 5 D 6 7 (8.4)
6 0 e24 0 7 6 T4 7
6 7 Ez 6 7
4 e15 0 0 5 4 T5 5
0 0 0 0
For the z-directed wave, the three no-zero possible stress components are T3
(longitudinal wave), T4 (shear wave with y- polarization) and T5 (shear wave with
x- polarization). Because the field is necessary perpendicular to the propagation
direction, we require Ez D 0. From Eq. (8.4) it is clear that only shear mode are
excited; T4 couples with Ey through e24 and T5 couples with Ex through e15 . It
would have been possible to excite a longitudinal mode had the components e13 or
e23 been nonzero. For the hexagonal symmetry piezoelectric material such as ZnO
and AlN, TE resulted in a longitudinal wave, whereas LFE resulted in a shear wave.
For the lateral field excitation of the c-axis-oriented hexagonal ZnO or AlN,
we desire the electric excitation field to be orthogonal to the wave propagation.
Therefore, if the wave propagation is in the direction of the z axis, the electric field is
in the x-y plane. Here, we will describe the coupling and acoustic wave propagation
for the general case of an electric field along any direction within the x-y plane. The
electric field vector mj is of the form
2 3
mx
mj D 4 my 5 (8.5)
mz
Solving the piezoelectrically stiffened Christoffel equation for laterally excited

material, we set mz D 0 and mx 2 C my 2 D 1. The 6 mm hexagonal system stiffness
tensor is of the form
2 3
c11 c12 c13 0 0 0
6c c c 7
6 12 11 13 0 0 0 7
6 7
6c c c 0 0 0 7
c D 6 13 13 33 7 (8.6)
6 0 0 0 c44 0 0 7
6 7
4 0 0 0 0 c44 0 5
0 0 0 0 0 c66
and the form of the piezoelectric matrix is

2 3
0 0 e31
6 0 7
6 0 e32 7
6 7
6 0 0 e33 7
eD6 7 (8.7)
6 0 e24 0 7
6 7
4 e15 0 0 5
0 0 0
The resulting Christoffel matrix is of the form

2 3
c44 C e15 m2x ="11 e15
2
mx my ="11 0
D 4 e15
2
mx my ="11 c44 C e15 m2x ="11 0 5 (8.8)
0 0 c33
The eigenvalues of this matrix correspond to terms that can be used to solve
for the acoustic velocity in each of the three wave propagation modes, while the
corresponding eigenvectors relate to the direction of particle displacement. Solving
for the eigenvectors and eigenvalues of gives
2 3
my
x1 D 4 mx 5 ; 1 D c44 I (8.9)
0
2 3
mx
e2
x2 D 4 my 5 ; 2 D c44 C 15 I (8.10)
"11
0
2 3
0
x3 D 4 0 5 ; 2 D c33 I (8.11)
0
From these results, we find that only one mode is piezoelectrically excited
(defined by x2 and œ2 ) and that the particle displacement will be directly aligned
with the electric field, regardless of the orientation of the field with respect to the
x-y plane. This mode is a pure shear thickness mode and is the mode we seek.
Another pure shear mode exists (defined by x1 and œ1 ) with particle displacement
also in the x-y plane at an angle perpendicular to that of the piezoelectrically excited
mode; however, it is piezoelectrically inactive. The longitudinal mode (defined by
x3 and œ3 ), importantly, is also piezoelectrically inactive. These results indicate that
an electric field in the x-y plane will excite a pure shear thickness mode with particle
displacement aligned with the electric field. The acoustic velocity for this mode can
be calculated from
s
c44 C e152
="11
va D (8.12)

The theoretical piezoelectric coupling constant for the LFE resonator is given by
2
e15
K2 D (8.13)
c44 "11
which is different from the coupling constant k2 of TFE.

In Conclusion, Theoretical analysis of the Christoffel equation has shown that a
TSM wave can be excited in c-axis-oriented ZnO or AlN with an in-plane excitation
field oriented in any direction on the wafer.
8.2.2 Electric Characteristics of LFE Resonators
We found that if the piezoelectric transducer was attached to a substrate and excited
in the TE mode, then the electrical source interacts (converts electrical into acoustic
energy) with the acoustic wave through the acoustically generated longitudinal
electric field and there was no acoustically generated. In the resonator structure
there is no energy conversion (the return loss is zero for all frequencies), but here
is an electric acoustic interaction that causes the impedance characteristic to look
inductive. Using the example of c-orient hexagonal symmetry crystal, we write the
potential solved from the plane wave formalism:
li eiL SL
ˆD (8.14)
"33
where for the z direct SL is either S4 or S5 and li (direction of propagation) is (0, 0, 1).
From Eq. (8.14), the product eiL SL is given by
3 2
0
2 36 0 77 2e S 3
0 0 0 0 e15 0 6 6 7 15 5
4 0 0 0 e24 0 0 5 6 0 7
6 7 D 4 e24 S4 5 (8.15)
6 S4 7
e31 e32 e33 0 0 0 6 7 0
4 S5 5
0
Carrying out the dot product (li eiL SL ), we find immediately that ˆ D 0. In lateral
field excited mode there is no internally generated electric field. Instead, there
is an internally generated displacement vector normal to the direction if acoustic
propagation. We can easily show this as:
Di D "ij Ej C eiL SL (8.16)

j #
ˇj Generated by acoustic wave
ˇ
!From external electric filed
The internally generated displacement vector is given by Eq. (8.15) and contains
terms that are normal to the propagation direction and thus parallel to the exciting
electric field. For y-directed field, the displacement is proportional to e24 S4 ,
and x-directed field, it is proportional to e15 S5 (compare with Eq. (8.14)). The
interaction of the electrical source with the acoustic wave takes place through
the acoustically generated displacement vector rather than through the acoustically
generated electric field, as in TE (which in this case does not exist). Because the
(external) electric field in constant, the stiffness constant is cE in the LFE structure,
and the coupling constant is K2 rather than k2 t.
As in TE, for both wide band and resonator structures in LFE the existence of a
normal displacement is independent of the boundary conditions on the piezoelectric
crystal (if we assume that the thickness in the propagation direction is much less
than the lateral dimensions). Like the TE case, it is the finite thickness of the
transducer that results in the required resonance conditions. Furthermore, nothing in
this analysis prevents LFE transducers in wideband applications from being rigidly
attached to a substrate on one side of the piezoelectric body.
From a fabrication perspective, however, the ground plane (which is part of
the TE structure) serves an important function. In sputtered piezoelectric film
technology, the ground plane provides an ordered growth “bed” for the ZnO film,
and in bonded transducer technology, it is the “glue” that holds the transducer to
the substrate. In an LFE structure, the presence of a metallic layer between the
transducer and the substrate would probably degrade device performance. It is
not clear that an acoustic wave can be transferred directly from a transducer to
a substrate without an intermediate metallic layer. If the acoustic wave in the
substrate is piezoelectrically active, the propagation does not depend on the modes
of excitation in the transducer. There will be a longitudinally directed electric field
Table 8.1 Difference between TE and LFE acoustic mode

Thickness excitation (TE) Lateral field excitation (LFE)
Internally generated longitudinal E parallel to Internally generated D parallel to exciting
exciting field field
E propagates at the acoustic velocity D propagates at the acoustic velocity
Interaction of the acoustic wave with source Interaction of the acoustic wave with source
through E through D
Stiffness components are measured at constant D Stiffness components are measured at
constant E
Coupling constant is kt 2 Coupling constant is K2
and no longitudinal displacement vector. The stiffness constant is cE . There is no

interaction with an electrical source because there is no external field. There is,
however, a coupling constant K2 . Table 8.1 summarizes the fields in TE and LFE in
piezoelectric transducers.
For LFE, the electromechanically equations must be modified to reflect the fact
that E rather than D is the independent variable. The mechanical-electrical equation
now is
eVA
T D c W S e W E ! F D cAS (8.17)
t
where t is the thickness of the piezoelectric material and V is the applied voltage
and A D Wd present the area of piezoelectrically active area. As the analysis from
TE mode, it is similar to write that

v1 v2 AeV
Z C D0 (8.18)
j tan.kd / j sin.kd / t

v1 v2 AeV
Z C D0 (8.19)
j sin.kd / j tan.kd / t
Correspondingly to the case of TE where V was expressed in terms of I, the

voltage should be solved for the current in terms of V. Assuming I is uniform across
width
Z d
I D j!W Dd z (8.20)
0
Substituting for D from its definition, we get

Z d
ıu
I D j!W " Ey C e
S
dz (8.21)
0 ız
As in Eq. (8.21), the first term represents the contribution of the external
(y-directed) field, and the second term is the acoustically generated component. If
we assume that Ey is uniform across the crystal width, the integral immediately
collapses to
j!VWd"
I D C j!W e .u2 u1 / (8.22)
t
According to
Wd"S
C0 D (8.23)
t
Equation (8.22) becomes
I D j!C0 V C W e .v2 v1 / (8.24)
Our task is to solve the system of Eqs. (8.18), (8.19), and (8.24). Because the
voltage appears the independent variable in this system, it is easier to find the input
admittance. From Eq. (8.24)
I
v v1
2
Yin D D j!C0 C W e (8.25)
V V V
Dividing Eqs. (8.18) and (8.19) by V and rearranging puts the equations in the
form:
ax by D c
bx ay D c (8.26)
where
Z Z Ae
aD ;b D ;c D (8.27)
j tan.kd / j sin.kd / t
and
v1 v2
xD Iy D (8.28)
V V
The solution if Eq. (8.26) is
c Ae=t
xD D D y (8.29)
aCb Z
C j sin.kd
j tan.kd /
Z
/
8.3 LFE FBAR Fabrication and Performances 119
Substituting Eq. (8.26) into Eq. (8.25), we get

( 1 )
I 2W e Ae 1 1
Yin D D j!C0 1 C
V j!C0 jZt tan.kd / sin.kd /

2WAe 2 kd
D j!C0 1 C tan
!C0 Zt 2 (8.30)
where we used

1 1
cot D C (8.31)
2 sin tan
Simplifying the coefficient of the tangent function, we have
2WAe 2 2WAe 2 2e 2 va K2
D W d "S Ac E D S E D (8.32)
!C0 Zt ! t va t " c d kd=2
In Eq. (8.32), we used the coefficient cE rather than cD , reflecting the fact that
the electric field is constant (this gives the coupling constant K2 in Eq. (8.32)),
Substituting Eq. (8.32) into Eq. (8.31) gives

tan.kd=2/
Yin D j!C0 1 C K 2 (8.33)
kd=2
8.3 LFE FBAR Fabrication and Performances
8.3.1 Device Structure and Design
The proposed configuration of the LFE AlN based FBAR in this work is shown in
Fig. 8.3. The alternating layers of SiO2 and AlN create a three-period Bragg acoustic
reflector. The thickness of each layer of the Bragg reflector should be one quarter
wavelength of the resonance wave to achieve the acoustic mirror response. The top
electrodes are designed to be 10 50 m2 and align parallel to the film surface with
the gap of 10 m.
It is very important to verify that the given electrode structure as shown in
Fig. 8.3 can generate an electric field consisting of a primarily lateral component.
To accomplish this, the electric field characteristic was calculated by finite element
modeling using Ansoft Maxwell software. Figure 8.4 shows the vector and the rel-
ative intensity of the electric field generated by the proposed electrode. The images
a b 10 μm
Al Al
gap
Electrode
AIN
G
AIN film
S SiO2
AIN
SiO2 / AIN G
SiO2
Reflector AIN
SiO2
Si
AIN
Si substrate
Fig. 8.3 The sketch of the LFE AlN-based FBAR operated in TSM wave. (a) The 3-D view, (b)
the side view
Fig. 8.4 The finite element

simulation of the electric field
generated by the parallel
electrodes: (a) the vector,
(b) the relative intensity
specify that the electric field is mainly aligned parallel to the surface in the area
between the gap, while it is aligned primarily normal to the surface in the area
directly below the electrodes. As shown in Fig. 8.4b, the relative intensity of the
electric field in the gap is about twice than that of the electric field directly beneath
the electrodes. The calculation results demonstrate that the proposed electrode frame
will generate the laterally oriented field in the active area of the device with a
minimal vertical component.
In order to further verify the shear thickness mode resonance, the simulated mode
shape (displacement profile) of the active AlN layer is shown in Fig. 8.5. The shear
thickness mode resonance and the effect of acoustic isolation by the Bragg reflector
are clearly observed. Figure 8.6 shows the simulated electrical admittance of the
device. The Q-factor of 850 can be calculated using the equation of
Fig. 8.5 The simulated mode shape of the active AlN layer
a 30 b
90
20 60
Phase (degree)
Magnitude (dB)
10 30
0 0
–10 –30
–60
–20
–90
–30
2.18 2.20 2.22 2.24 2.26 2.18 2.20 2.22 2.24 2.26
Fig. 8.6 The simulated electrical admittance of the AlN-based FBAR operated in TSM wave,
(a) the magnitude; (b) the phase

1 @†Z
Qs=p D fs=p (8.34)
2 @f s=p
where fs and fp are the series and parallel resonant frequency, respectively.
8.3.2 Device Fabrication
All the films were deposited using sputtering system. After the Bragg reflector was
completed, the AlN film was deposited on the SiO2 layer by RF reactive sputtering.
A 100 nm thick Al top electrode was deposited on the AlN film surface and patterned
by the conventional photolithography method. The pattern of the top electrode is two
ports G-S-G type in order to adapt the coplanar probes.
1.0j
a b 0.5j 2.0j Swp Min

0 2.2 GHz
0.2j 5.0j
–5
|S11| (dB)
–10 0.2 0.5 1.0 2.0 5.0
–15 –0.2j –5.0j
1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0 Swp Min

–0.5j –2.0j 1.9 GHz
Frequency (GHz)
–1.0j
Fig. 8.7 The measured reflection coefficient (S11 ) of a resonator with 1.47 m thick AlN film:
(a) the magnitude of the S11 response as the function of frequency; (b) the S11 Smith chart plot
The crystal characteristic was identified by X-ray diffraction (XRD, BRUKER-

AXS) and rocking curve at the wavelength of 0.15418 nm (Cu K’). The cross-
sectional morphology of film was observed by field effect scanning electron
microscope (SEM, FEI SIRION 200) under the operating voltage of 10 kV. The
resonator scattering parameters of the finished devices were obtained using Cascade
9000 TM probe station with ACP 40 probes and analyzed using HP 8722D network
analyzer.
8.3.3 The Device Performances
Figure 8.7 shows the measured reflection coefficient (S11 ) response of a device with
1.47 m thick AlN film. The frequency response of the device exhibits a return loss
of 13.7 dB at the center of 2.1 GHz. As can be seen from the Smith chart plot
(Fig. 8.6b), the loop pattern suggests that there is a distinct resonant phenomenon.
The admittance curve is shown in Fig. 8.8 to extract Q-factor. More than 20 devices
have been tested and the average Q-factor of these devices is approximately 520 in
air. Both the resonance frequency and the Q-factor are smaller than the simulated
one, since the latter did not take into account the crystal mosaicity, material loss and
the scattering from film surfaces.
In order to confirm that the resonator response is due to the shear acoustic wave
rather than some electromagnetic resonance and other surface acoustic modes, the
finished devices with multiple thicknesses of AlN films have been tested. The results
are summarized in Table 8.2. The resonance frequency goes down near-linearly
with the film thickness as expected. The average acoustic velocity is 6,127 m/s,
which is quite close to the theoretical value and other experimental values of
TSM wave [1–3]. This value much lower than the longitudinal acoustic velocity
a 8 b
90
4 60
Magnitude (dB)
Phase (degree)
30
0 0
–30
–4
–60
–90
–8
2.06 2.08 2.10 2.12 2.14 2.06 2.08 2.10 2.12 2.14
Fig. 8.8 The measured admittance curve for a resonator with 1.47 m thick AlN film, (a) the
magnitude; (b) the phase
Table 8.2 The resonance

Measured thickness Resonance Extracted acoustic
frequencies and extracted
of AlN film (m) frequency (GHz) velocity (m/s)
acoustic velocities of the
resonators with multiple 1.45 2.104 6,102
thicknesses of AlN film 1.47 2.105 6,189
1.48 2.095 6,200
1.52 2.012 6,116
1.53 1.993 6,098
Fig. 8.9 The magnitude

curves of the admittance for
the resonator operated in air,
de-ionized water and glycerol
(10,172 m/s) [4]. Therefore, it is the TSM wave that is being excited and not the
longitudinal wave or surface acoustic wave. It is noted that no obvious longitudinal
peak (near 2.54 GHz) is found in the frequency spectrum of the resonators. It can
be explained that the electric field component normal to the surface is very weak
and the Bragg reflector has an excellent property of the frequency selectivity for the
shear mode as shown in the simulated results of the electric field and mode shape.
Figure 8.9 shows the conductance curves of the device in air, immersed in
de-ionized water and glycerol (viscosities of 6.76 mPa s). The FBAR responses
Table 8.3 Summary of the

BVD parameters extracted Parameters In air In water In glycerol
from the measured fs (GHz) 2:095 2:091 2:089
admittance curves fp (GHz) 2:101 2:097 2:096
Qs 520 408 313
Qp 541 432 355
Keff 2 (%) 3:82 3:41 2:97
C0 (pF) 2:57 3:41 2:32
Cm (fF) 1:48 1:95 2:58
Lm (H) 1:30 9:28 18:5
Rm () 31:2 29:1 40:8
and the performance parameters are usually given by using Butterworth-Van Dyke
(BVD) equivalent circuit. Table 8.3 summarizes the BVD parameters obtained
by means of a least squares fitting routine available in the advanced design
system (ADS) software, where C0 is the clamped capacitance, Lm , Cm and Rm are
motional inductance, motional capacitance, and motional resistance of the resonator,
respectively.
As shown in Fig. 8.9, small frequency shifts of 1 MHz in water and 4 MHZ in
glycerol are observed. The Q-factor is 408 in water and 313 in glycerol, respectively.
According to Sauerbrey equation [5], it is reasonable to assume that the observed the
frequency shifts and the Q-factor decreases suggest the effect of mass loading on the
piezoelectric film surface in liquids. In comparison, Wingqvist et al. [6] reported the
shear mode resonator based on inclined c-axis AlN film had a Q-factor of 150 in air
and a low frequency of 1.2 GHz. The achieved higher frequency and Q-factor in the
shear mode LFE resonator is better suit for the biochemical sensor application.
References
1. Carlotti, G., Gubbiotti, G., Hickernell, F.S., Liaw, H.M., Socino, G.: Comparative study of
the elastic properties of polycrystalline aluminum nitride films on silicon by Brillouin light
scattering. Thin Solid Films 310(1–2), 34–38 (1997)
2. Fardeheb-Mammeri, A., Assouar, M.B., Elmazria, O., Fundenberger, J.J., Benyoucef, B.:
Growth and characterization of c-axis inclined AlN films for shear wave devices. Semicondut.
Sci. Technol. 23(9), 55–61 (2008)
3. Weber, J., Albers, W.M., Tuppurainen, J., Link, M., Gabl, R., Wersing, W., Schreiter, M.: Shear
mode FBARs as highly sensitive liquid biosensors. Sens. Actuators A Phys. 128(1), 84–88
(2006)
4. Gerlich, D., Dole, S.L., Slack, G.A.: Elastic properties of aluminum nitride. J. Phys. Chem.
Solids 47(5), 437–441 (1986)
5. Sauerbrey, G.Z.: The use of quartz crystal oscillators for weighing thin layers and for micro-
weighing. Z. Phys. 155, 206–222 (1959)
6. Wingqvist, G., Bjurstroöm, J., Hellgren, A.C., Katardjiev, I.: Immunosensor utilizing a shear
mode thin film bulk acoustic sensor. Sens. Actuators B 127(1), 248–252 (2007)
Chapter 9
High Sensitive Sensors Based on FBAR
Abstract The successes in the field of FBAR based filters motivate the researchers
to explore its application in biochemical sensors. As a microbalance sensor, the
FBAR working in 2–5 GHz offers a potential sensitivity increase of more than
three orders of magnitude over QCM typically working in several MHz. In addition,
other advantages of FBAR include its small size and IC-compatibility, which makes
FBAR possible to be assembled to sensor arrays integrated with the electronics,
and hence low cost mass production of miniature sensor system. In this chapter, the
principle of the mass loading sensors, including QCM and FBAR, are introduced.
A CNTs coated FBAR gas sensor is realized. The related researches show that the
sensitivity of FBAR sensor has achieved the magnitude of nanogram, and have the
potential of further development to the magnitude of picogram.
Keywords Mass loading sensor • Quartz crystal microbalance • FBAR • CNTs •

Gas sensor • Biosensor
9.1 Microbalance Sensor Based on Piezoelectric

Quartz Crystal
9.1.1 Quartz Crystal Microbalance
For a piezoelectric sensor, a tiny pressure change on piezoelectric crystal surface

can cause a drift of the resonance frequency. It is based on the piezoelectric effect
that Quartz Crystal Microbalance, QCM, can measure the mass of the matter on
the piezoelectric crystal surface. Based on the theory, the change of the pressure on
piezoelectric crystal surface can be measured or reflected by measuring the drift of
the resonance frequency, and then we can obtain the change of mass the surface.
In the 1960s, the German physics Sauerbrey utilized this theory to put forward
DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-31776-7 9,
126 9 High Sensitive Sensors Based on FBAR
the concept of Quartz Crystal Microbalance. According to the Sauerbrey’s study

of the mass sensibility of piezoelectric crystal, the relation between the fundamental
resonance frequency and the additional mass on the piezoelectric crystal surface is
1
f D 2.t/ 2 f 2 m=A (9.1)
where f is the frequency drift coursed by the change of mass, ¡ is mass of the
piezoelectric crystal, t is the thickness of the crystal, f is the operating frequency,
m is the mass change, A is the area of crystal electrode, the minus sign indicates
that increase of the mass make the resonance frequency lower. Because it is
easy to measure the drift of resonance frequency, the piezoelectric resonator has
extremely high sensibility and response speed. The theoretical calculation and result
of experiment both show that the drift of resonance frequency almost increases
linearly with the mass change on the crystal surface.
Measuring mass by piezoelectric crystal has several advantages [1]: (1) simple
device structure and high Reliability; (2) high sensibility to tiny mass change and
good linearity between mass and frequency; (3) easily to be automated for frequency
signal detection and processing; (4) measuring result is independent from gravity
and position, because the resonance frequency drift is only decided by the surface
inertial force; (5) no pollution and can work in vacuum. According to the Eq. (9.1),
when the mass increases by 18 ng/cm2 , the resonance frequency of piezoelectric
crystal chip increases by 1 Hz whose fundamental frequency is 5 MHz. For the
piezoelectric crystal chip with fundamental frequency of 9 MHz, the mass increase
by 5.5 ng/cm2 leads to frequency drift of 1 Hz. It is clear that piezoelectric crystal
chip can be used to measure tiny mass change, which is called microbalance.
At present, the commercial QCMs usually adopt piezoelectric crystal chip with
fundamental frequency of 5–10 MHz, whose technology has been mature. For
example, QCM200 developed by Stanford Research Systems Company reaches
high frequency resolution as 0.01 Hz (the sampling period is 10 s), precision of
˙1.5 ppm, and measuring accuracy of microgramme level.
9.1.2 The Sensing Principle of Piezoelectric Crystal
When a pulse of voltage is input to the end electrodes, the piezoelectric crystal
chip deforms with the voltage pulse period. Simultaneously the electric potential
rose by the charge released when deformation of piezoelectric crystal chip recovers
is added to the pulse voltage input. When the pulse voltage reaches the Eigen
frequency of the piezoelectric crystal chip, resonance happens. At this moment,
mechanical oscillation of piezoelectric crystal chip has the biggest amplitude, and
the resonance pulse forms a stable pulse frequency. This phenomenon is called
‘piezoelectric resonance’. Relatively speaking, though the oscillation amplitude is
small, the resonance frequency is very stable.
9.1 Microbalance Sensor Based on Piezoelectric Quartz Crystal 127
For the piezoelectric crystal with thickness of d, the resonance frequency:
v N
f D D (9.2)
2t t
where N is a frequency constant, v is the propagation velocity of acoustic wave
(longitudinal wave or shear wave):
r
c
vD (9.3)

where c is accordingly the matrix element of elastic stiffness constant.

Then because
M m
d D D or m D t (9.4)
A
where A, , M and m is the area, density, mass, and surface density of the
piezoelectric crystal, respectively. So we can obtain
N
f D (9.5)
m
If assume all the added mass M (the surface density is m D M/A) could be
substituted by the piezoelectric crystal of equal mass, the frequency change is
N
f C f D (9.6)
m C m
which can lead to the frequency drift caused by the added mass:
f 2 m
f D (9.7)
N 1 C m
m
When m m , the equation above can be approximated as
f 2 M f2
f D D m (9.8)
N A N
can be rewritten as
f M M
D D (9.9)
f M tA
This is Sauerbrey equation, which built the relation between frequency drift of
thickness vibration and the added mass. So:
2f 2 M 2f 2 2f 2
f D p D p m D m (9.10)
c A c v
that is
(9.11)
where
2f 2 2f 2 f2 f
Sm D p D D D (9.12)
c v N t
Sm
SD (9.13)
A
where S and Sm are response sensibility of piezoelectric crystal for surface density
and mass, respectively. Based on the Sauerbrey equation, piezoelectric crystal
can be used for microbalance. However, the equation depends on two assumed
conditions:
1. A premise for the equation derivation is that we have to assume the coating film
deposited uniformly equals to a layer of piezoelectric crystal with the same mass.
In other words, the differences of elasticity and density between coating film and
piezoelectric crystal are ignored. So this equation is only appropriate for solid
state film or rigid material coating.
2. The relative mass ratio of coating to piezoelectric crystal (M/M)must be small
enough, which is generally smaller than 2%.
The start point to derive the Sauerbrey equation requires that piezoelectric crystal
should be placed in air and the object on crystal surface should be rigid material.
However, QCM can also work in liquid, so the Sauerbrey equation need to be
revised. The operation model of QCM in liquid, much more complex than that in
air, belongs to the sensoring mechanism incompletely based on mass effect. Usually
from different points of view, we study one or more factors of the system such as the
surface mass load, surface properties, density, viscosity, conductivity, permittivity
and so on. In 1985, K. Kanazawa et al. derived the frequency drift equation of QCM
in liquid:
1=2
1 1
f D f03=2 (9.14)

q q
where:
f0 is fundamental frequency of quartz crystal (Hz);
f is frequency drift of quartz crystal (Hz);
˜q is modulus of elasticity of quartz crystal(˜q D 2.947 1011 g/cm.s2 );
9.2 The Sensitive Material of Piezoelectric Crystal Sensor 129
¡q is density of quartz crystal (¡q D 2.648 g/cm3 );

¡l is the density of the liquid touching quartz crystal;
˜l is viscosity of the liquid touching quartz crystal;
In theory, this equation builds the operation model of QCM in liquid as a
foundation for practical applications.
9.1.3 Measuring Method of Piezoelectric Crystal

Resonance Sensor
In the study of piezoelectric crystal sensor, two measuring methods are adopted
generally which are active method and passive method classified in terms of action
mode. Active method is common oscillator method in which the oscillator is
composed of piezoelectric crystal which connects the input and output electrodes
of oscillator amplifier. The crystal oscillates continuously at the frequency decided
by itself providing necessary positive feedback. Piezoelectric crystal oscillator is
composed of piezoelectric crystal and the side electrodes. When alternating driving
voltage is exerted on the electrodes the crystal can generate mechanical oscillation.
And then the oscillation leads to an alternate electric field with a tiny amplitude.
When alternating driving voltage reaches the natural frequency of piezoelectric
crystal the amplitude of electric field is largest forming the piezoelectric resonance.
The instrument is simple and the output signal is continuous and intuitional.
Because of the advantages above the oscillation method is applied extensively on
practical measuring. However, oscillation method also has several disadvantages:
(1) Only one series resonance frequency can be measured, and simply a part of
the characteristics can be reflected. (2) The resonance frequency with a weak
extensibility relates to the type and operating conditions of the oscillator. (3)
When operating in liquid with high viscosity, the piezoelectric crystal is difficult
to oscillate, especially evident for the piezoelectric sensor whose both sides touches
the liquid.
In passive method also known as network analysis method, piezoelectric sensor
is regarded as a one-port passive network component. By measuring the impedance
characteristics of piezoelectric sensor with impedance analyzer or network analyzer,
more comprehensive characteristic parameters can be obtained.
9.2 The Sensitive Material of Piezoelectric Crystal Sensor
9.2.1 The Requirement and Mechanism of Adsorption
One key to develop the piezoelectric sensor of microbalance is to choose suitable

coating material, coating method and coating weight. When the determinand is
adsorbed or reacts with coating material, the optimal information, for example the
mass change, can be measured by piezoelectric crystal. Generally, the fundamental

requirement for coating material: (1) It should have a sensitive and fast response
to determinand; (2) With a good selectivity, the common associated impurities do
not interrupt measuring in a certain range of concentration ratio; (3) It should have
no volatility, do not run off, and satisfied the requirements on heat stability and
chemical stability; (4) With a stable frequency restoration, the determinand can be
absorbed in short time and the sensor can do the next measurement immediately; (5)
Good reproducibility and long working life; (6) It can be coated easily and stably by
a proper method; (7) No notable hygroscopicity, or the effect of water vapour can
be shielded easily; (8) The crystal should not be overloaded with a uniform coating
thickness and proper coating weight.
The action mechanism of determinand and coating material mainly has the
following four categories:
1. Physical adsorption: the adsorption of water molecule onto the metal electron
or gelatin coating, the adsorption of hydrogen molecule onto palladium coating,
and the adsorption of some gas molecule .
2. Chemical adsorption or reaction adsorption: the determinand can react with coat-
ing material to form new chemical bond or compound, such as the determination
of NO2 using Ucon75-H-90000 or UconLB-300, the determination of NH3
using the mixture of ascorbic acid and AgNO3 , the determination of primary,
secondary or tertiary amine using metal halide coating, for example, the FeCl3
coating, and the determination of using polyethylene glycol 400 and so on.
3. Biochemical reaction: for example, immune chemical reaction between antigen
and antibody.
4. Other mechanism: The adsorption of mercury vapor on the golden electrode
results from the formation of amalgam, and the sensing response to water on
piezoelectric crystal coated with metal halide is due to the formation of hydrate.
Quartz crystal has stable performance and high resonance quality factor. When
the mass of sensitive material coated onto the piezoelectric crystal changes, due
to the adsorption, the resonance frequency drifts linearly. Now the phenomenon has
been applied in fields of microbalance, detection of the film deposition [1], detection
of molecule in air and solution, and detection of microorganism and DNA etc.
9.2.2 Coating Methods of Sensitive Material
There are drop method, immersion method, spraying method, brushing method
and evaporation method to deposit the sensitive coating, which should be selected
according to specific coating materials and devices. The coating quantity on a piezo-
electric crystal also should be controlled, the increase of the coating amount can
promote the detective sensitivity, nevertheless it can prolong the response time and
recovery time, also can increase the response sensitivity to interference. In addition,
the measuring sensitivity will no longer increase when the coated amount reaches
to certain thickness, because crystal surface coating is saturated. Excessive coating

may make crystal oscillation stop or transform into other oscillation modes, so the
most suitable coating dosage should be selected according to the circumstance in
order to get the larger coverage and adsorption efficiency. Sometimes excessive
coating will lead to the reduction of measuring sensitivity. The coating area and
the distance from crystal center will affect crystal detective sensitivity and usually
the coating material should be coated on the electrode surface uniformly. Double-
face coated crystal has double detective sensitivity of single-face coated crystal, so
adopt double-face coated crystal as much as possible if conditions permit.
9.2.3 Application of Piezoelectric Crystal Sensor
1. Film thickness detection and the rate control of coating process: In recent
decades, the most matured application field of QCM is the detection of film
thickness and the control of coating rate in the vacuum deposition process. From
Sauerbrey equation, we can see that: when the mass of deposition film is small,
the frequency drift of quartz crystal oscillator is linear with the deposition mass.
Because the area of electrode on the quartz crystal surface is a fixed value, the
properties, for example the density of adhering material, are known parameters.
So the relation between resonance frequency drift and thickness of the film can
be derived. This is exactly the fundamental mechanism of the QCM applied
on detection of film thickness and the control of coating rate in the vacuum
deposition process.
Based on the Sauerbrey equation, taking into account the factors of density
and acoustic impedance of film developed by vacuum evaporation on the
piezoelectric crystal, we can obtain the film thickness equation:

Q NQ T Zm ZQ TQ
dm D tan1 tan
1
m
ZQ Zm T
(9.15)
where dm is film thickness, Q is density of quartz crystal, NQ is frequency

constant of ‘At’ sliced crystal, Zm is the acoustic impedance of the coating film
to be measured, ZQ is the impedance of quartz crystal, T is the oscillation period
of loaded quartz crystal, TQ is the oscillation period of no-load quartz crystal.
Equation (9.15) clearly reflects the relation between thickness of deposited
film and change of oscillation period. The quartz crystal thickness controller
designed based on this equation is usually called thickness gauge by acoustic
impedance method. Via monitoring the crystal resonance frequency in real time,
the measurement of film thickness in real time can be realized.
At present, lots of commercial QCM film thickness gauges have emerged in
business. The SQM160 velocity/ film thickness monitor designed by INFICON
Fig. 9.1 QCM film thickness

gauge
Au O
COOH CON CONH
S S S
O O
O S
S S
O CON
COOH CON H2N
COOH
HO N O
S O
O Avidin
S +
COOH EDC
CONH CONH
S S
S S
CONHCH2CH2OH CONHCH2CH2OH
H2N
OH Biotin-DNA
Fig. 9.2 The development process of QCM biosensor for detecting DNA
Company can use the piezoelectric crystal with the frequency of 1–6.5 MHz
(Fig. 9.1). The frequency resolution ratio is as high as 0.03 Hz with period of 3 s
and the resolution ratio of deposition rate is in the range from 0.1 to 0.01 Å/s,
which meet the requirements of most film thickness measurements.
2. Piezoelectric crystal biosensor. Making use of the high sensitivity to mass,
the biosensor can be developed via the chemical modification of bioactive
differential selective functional film on electrodes, as shown in Fig. 9.2. Because
piezoelectric crystal is highly sensitive to the mass change, this biosensor
has the advantages of good specificity, high sensitivity, low cost and simple
operation. Recently piezoelectric crystal biosensor plays a significant role in
the study of protein, microorganism, nucleic acid, enzyme and cell, which has
been applied widely in the fields of molecular biology, pathology, diagnostics,
bacteriology etc.
The DNA detection using piezoelectric crystal is a hot research area nowa-
days. The design principle of this sensor is to modify the crystal surface with
single-standard DNA. By the DNA molecular hybridization, another single-
standard DNA with according complementary base sequence can be detected,
which combines with one on the piezoelectric crystal, to realize the detective and
diagnostic capacity of the biosensor in the DNA level. To develop piezoelectric
crystal DNA biosensor, the key technology is how to prepare the film sensitive to
Fig. 9.3 Typical Reference

electrochemical QCM sensor Counter
Work
Potentiostat
Crystal
Oscillator AUX A/D
INPUT
Frequency
Analog Out
Crystal
Probe QCM200
Holder
with
crystal
DNA, which can be fixed on the crystal surface as well as keep the bioactivity of
single-standard DNA. The method to fix DNA mainly includes: LB film method,
indirect avidin-biotin coupling and self-assembly. In recent years, the application
of nanoparticle in biology aroused the widespread attention. The combination of
nanotechnology and QCM measuring method is a trend in the future.
3. Electrochemistry QCM. Now electrochemistry QCM is the most commercial
piezoelectric sensor, whose mechanism is the combination of the mass loading
sensor and electrochemical system to utilize the signal of mass change provided
by piezoelectric crystal. The QCM adopts piezoelectric crystal whose single side
touches the solution, to detect the mass change, which decreases the energy
consumption in crystal oscillation as well as the interruption from conductivity
shift of electrolyte solution. The electrode of QCM touching solution has
tow functions: On one hand connecting to oscillation, the detection of QCM
resonance frequency can be realized by monitoring the frequency of oscillation,
then to obtain the mass loading and viscosity etc. On the other hand it can be
inserted to the electrochemistry analyzer in order to measure the electrochemistry
parameters. As shown in Fig. 9.3, a typical electrochemistry QCM is presented.
Now electrochemical QCM can detect the molecules or atoms in monolayer or
submonolayer on the surface of electrode.
By electrochemistry QCM the detection of reaction kinetics in electrochem-
ical process includes [2]: the change of anodic current density when depositing
MnO2 through chemical reaction between MnSO4 solution and H2 SO4 solution;
the frequency response of QCM during the changing process that the silver
electrode turns from hydrophilic property into hydrophobic property in Ethane
sulfonic acid salt solution; the deposition of PPY (polypyrrole) and the action
of adding additive in acid solution that contains phosphorus; the CuInS2 film
electrode position processes with different sedimentation potentials; the dynamic
process of the reduction reaction on the Pt electrode; electrochemical dissolution
process of noble metals and their alloy; mass and charge balance of self-assembly
multilayer structure on the surface of golden electrode and so on.
9.3 Carbon Nanotubes Sensitive Material
9.3.1 Adsorption Property of CNTs
The tubular structure of CNTs is formed with single layer (single-walled carbon
nanotubes, SWCNTs), double layer (double-walled carbon nanotubes, DWCNTs)
and multilayer(multi-walled carbon nanotubes, MWCNTs) cylindric graphite layer.
Nanotube has hollow and tubular structure, big specific surface area, high strength
and electrical conductivity, which is a highly promising air sensitive material. As the
sensitive material in chemical sensor, the CNTs have attracted many researchers’
interests, since Kong et al. demonstrate that the tiny sensor based on CNTs can
detect the toxic gas with low concentration such as NO2 NH3 CH4 etc. in room
temperature.
The adsorption is an action of adsorbates on the surface of solid adsorbent.
The process is closely related with the solid surface characteristics. CNT has the
regular hollow and tubular structure in nano scale. The carbon atoms of SWCNT
are all located on the surface of SWCNT, with a theoretical specific surface area of
1,315 m2 /g, bigger than that of MWCNT. Depending on the hollow and tubular
structure, CNTs can adsorb a certain amount of adsorbates, and the adsorbance
is mainly decided by pipe diameter and aperture opening ratio. The smaller pipe
diameter is, the bigger aperture opening ratio is, then the specific surface area
increases, so the adsorbance should be more. Furthermore, with a certain pipe
diameter, intense capillary condensation of adsorbates in CNTs will happen. At the
same time, the adsorbance increases greatly.
Besides the big specific surface area, the CNTs also have a quite high specific
surface energy leading to some special physical and chemical properties. In addition,
topological defects exist on the wall of CNTs, so CNTs have higher reactivity
than other Graphite variants. There are pentagonal defects on the top of CNTs
and dimensionality curve caused by defects, so reactivity increases. With the
properties of high specific surface area, specific surface energy and reactivity
leading to excellent adsorption performance, CNTs have become a new generation
of adsorption material.At present, many studies have confirmed that the adsorbance
of CNTs to hydrogen, heavy metal ions ( such as Pb2C , Cu2C , Cd2C etc.) and non-
phenolic compounds is more than ten even several ten times than the adsorption of
activated carbon [3].
Based on the CNTs, gas sensors can detect some gas molecules such as SO2 ,
NO2 , NH3 and O2 etc. Compared with the traditional gas sensors, CNTs gas sensors
have the advantages of high sensitivity, fast response and small size, also can work
at room temperature, so has broad prospect of application in the area of industrial,
medical and environmental protection. In the view of the detection principle, the
CNTs gas sensors that have been reported generally include conductive gas sensors,
capacitive gas sensor and ionization gas sensor. This section mainly introduces high
sensitive CNTs gas adsorption mass sensors based on FBAR.
9.3 Carbon Nanotubes Sensitive Material 135
9.3.2 Application of CNTs as Adsorbed Layer
The CNTs used in QCM and SAW sensors as adsorption materials was also reported
in some documents. Lucci et al. [4]. reported a polyethylene modified with SWNTs
as adsorbing medium of QCM hydrogen sensor. Using H2 /N2 gas as the test mixture,
which contains H2 of different content at room temperature, the sensitivity of the
sensor is 4.5 ng/Hz and detection limit concentration is 1%. The response time and
recovery time are both less than 5 s. While H2 content is in the range of 0–40%,
the sensor performs a good linearity. Li et al. [5] also reported the H2 gas pressure
sensor based on SWNTs.
In 2005, using SWNTs Penza et al. [6] succeeded to develop a 10 MHz QCM
ethanol sensor. Through the LB method the 20 monomolecular layers of CdA are
developed on the QCM surface as a buffer layer, and then the same LB method
was used to develop multi-layer SWNTs as an adsorption layer. When 59 mmHg
of ethanol exists in the environment, QCM resonant frequency dropped 230 Hz,
evidently much higher than that of the device coated CdA film. During the year
of 2005–2007, adopting the same method this group made various QCM sensors
which can test several kinds of organic gas [2, 6–8], whose sensitivity is mostly a
few Hz ac/mmHg, whose response and recovery time is a few minutes. The more
SWNTs layers the sensor has the better sensitivity it performs, but the response and
recovery time is longer.
After spraying SWNTs onto the Au electrode surface of QCM, Goyal et al.
[9] tested the response frequency to N2 , O2 , Ar and SF6 gas, to find that the
adsorbance of SWNTs increases exponentially with time and the index is relevant
to gas molecular weight.
East China Normal University Ziqiang.Zhou research group [10] reported the a
QCM humidity sensors based on MWNTs. After ion bombardment and hydrogen
plasma process, MWNTs spin onto quartz crystal wafer. The sensors have good
linear response to humidity range of 5–97% RH, and response and recovery time
is 60–70 s. The industrial institute of Taiwan also reported 9 MHz QCM humidity
sensors, which adopt spin-coating SWNTs [11, 12] or MWNTs [13] and Nafion
composite medium as a coating material. Testing response to water vapor at the
room temperature, linearity of the two complex mediums above are both quite good.
In comparison the sensitivity of MWNTs composite medium is higher and the limit
detection concentration is lower, but the response time and recovery time is longer.
Penza research group [6] also applied SWNTs and MWNTs to 433.92 MHz SAW
sensors, to test the response to the organic gas. At first a layer of SiO2 insulation film
was sputtered onto electrode of SAW and then SWNTs and MWNTs were spin-
coated, and the tests showed that the SWMTs sensor has a better performance for
organic gas. In 2007, the group reported an inorganic gas sensor made of 69.3 MHz
SAW using ZnO/LiTaO3 , whose absorption layer is coated with 75 wt % SWNTs
CdA/composite material through the LB method. The device has obvious phase
changes for H2 , NH3 and NO2 gas whose respective concentration range is 0.030–
1%, 30–1,000 and 1–10 PPM, to which the respective phase sensitivity is 3.3 102 ,
Table 9.1 Some applications of CNTs as adsorption materials in QCM and SAW sensors
Detection limit
Detection gas devices coating layers sensitivity concentration documents
Hydrogen 4 MHz QCM SWNTs/ 4.5 Hz/ng 1% [4]
polyethylene
Alcohol 10 MHz QCM SWNTs/CdA 3.46 Hz/mmHg – [8]
433.92 MHz SAW SWMTs 6.89 kHz/ppm 0.7 ppm [6]
433.92 MHz SAW MWNTs 1.79 kHz/ppm 8.95 ppm [6]
Carbinol 10 MHz QCM SWNTs/CdA 1.969 Hz/mmHg – [8]
Isopropanol 10 MHz QCM SWNTs/CdA 4.149 Hz/mmHg – [8]
Acetone 10 MHz QCM SWNTs/CdA 0.043 Hz/mmHg – [8]
Aldehyde 10 MHz QCM SWNTs/CdA 1.558 Hz/mmHg – [8]
433.92 MHz SAW MWNTs 10 kHz/ppm 4.5 ppm [6]
Methyl 10 MHz QCM SWNTs/CdA 0.9 Hz/ppm 560 ppb [2]
benzene
433.92 MHz SAW MWNTs 9 kHz/ppm 5.05 ppm [6]
Dimethyl 10 MHz QCM SWNTs/CdA 1.8 Hz/ppm 280 ppb [2]
benzene
Water vapour 9 MHz QCM SWNT/Nafion 1.13 Hz/ppm 15.8 ppm [11, 12]
9 MHz QCM MWNT/Nafion 3.56 Hz/ppm 14.7 ppm [13]
4.7 104 and 1.8 105 /ppm with a good linearity, and the response and recovery
time is about 10 min. Table 9.1 summarizes the CNT as adsorption materials in
QCM and SAW for some applications in sensors.
9.4 Sensors Base on FBAR
9.4.1 The Sensing Principle of FBAR
As to the piezoelectric crystal sensor of QCM, the large enough electrode area is
needed for the stable vibration, and the highest frequency is only 20 MHz because
of the thickness limit (currently about 30 m). It also limits the development of
biological quartz sensors to miniaturization [14]. In order to adapt the development
trends of miniaturization, integration and higher sensitivity, the cantilever beam
[15, 16], SAW [17] and FBAR [18] become the research focuses.
FBAR sensor and the traditional QCM all depend on the adsorption of coating
layer or the chemical or biochemical reactions of coating layer to explore the quality
change. When the added mass changes, the resonance frequency of the FBAR will
drift with it. The structure and working principle of FBAR are the same as low
frequency quartz crystal resonator, but the thickness of the piezoelectric film is
1–2 m, and the base model working frequency can reach GHz. So, in theory
9.4 Sensors Base on FBAR 137
Fig. 9.4 Ideal composite

z
resonator made of
piezoelectric film and coating Coating cj pr
layer tc
y
Piezoelectric layer
cj pr
–tp
according, the mass sensitivity of the FBAR is three orders of magnitude higher than
QCM, showing higher sensitivity and a strong discernibility. In addition, the FBAR
is compatible with semiconductor process, so FBAR sensors and signal processing
circuit can be easily integrated in single chip which can achieve the goal of a lab on
a chip [19, 20], if to join micro system function elements such as the micro valve,
the micro pump, micro channel and micro room for cell culture etc. Therefore, it
has great advantages to substitute FBAR for piezoelectric quartz crystal in sensor,
which causes the extensive attentions among academia and industry.
Generally for quartz crystal resonator, Sauerbrey equation is widely used because
the two conditions of Sauerbrey equation can be met. But in the FBAR, the thickness
of the piezoelectric film is far less than that of quartz crystal, so the influences of
two added coating above and mass increase are not negligible. Thus Sauerbrey
equation can only provide an approximate expression for the change trend of
resonant frequency, and cannot calculate exact response to mass change. For this
reason, from the acoustic wave transmission model of FBAR we deduced the FBAR
frequency response to mass change.
Considering ideal composite resonator made of piezoelectric film and coating
layer (Fig. 9.4), acoustic wave propagates along the thickness direction (z direction).
The respective elastic wave equations in piezoelectric layer and coating layer are
" s ! s !#
C p p
vp .z/ D vp exp j! z C vp exp Cj! z (9.16)
cp cp
and
r r
C c c
vc .z/ D vc exp j! z C vc exp Cj! z (9.17)
cc cc
where vC p , v p , vC c , v c are respectively amplitude parameters.

In FBAR, the resonant acoustic wave excited in piezoelectric layer propagates in
every layer. Because of the continuous particle velocity and stress in the interfaces
of every layer, the boundary conditions are:
vp .0/ D vc .0/ (9.18)

ˇ
d vp d vz ˇˇ
D (9.19)
dz d z ˇzD0
The stress of another air-media interface is 0, so for piezoelectric layer and

coating layer we can respectively obtain:
ˇ
d vp ˇ
D 0ˇˇ (9.20)
dz zDtp
and
ˇ
d vc ˇ
D 0ˇˇ (9.21)
dz zDtc
From the boundary condition equations above, simultaneous equations can be

provided as:
8
ˆ
ˆ vC C
p C vp vc vc D 0
ˆ
ˆ r
ˆ
ˆ
ˆ
ˆ
p
ˆ
< vp v C
p exp 2j! tp D0
r cp (9.22)
ˆ c
ˆ
ˆ v C
c vc exp 2j! tc D 0
ˆ
ˆ r cc r
ˆ
ˆ
ˆ c cc c cc
:̂ vp vCp vc

C vC
c D0
p cp p cp
Its nonzero solution can be simplified to:

s ! r r
p c cc c
tan ! tp C tan ! tc D 0 (9.23)
cp p cp cc
And then we can get load related resonant frequency fL (the resonant frequency
when sediment exists on the coating layer), no load resonant frequency f0 and
coating layer resonance frequency, and the relationship of the three is:

fL c vc
fL
tan D tan (9.24)
f0 p vp fc
Acoustic impedance of acoustic layer is

p
ZD c D v (9.25)
Substituting v to the equation above, we get

fL Zc
fL
fL
tan D tan D Z tan (9.26)
f0 Zp fc fc
where Z is the acoustic impedance ratio of two acoustic layers.

Because

.f0 fL / fL
tan D tan (9.27)
f0 f0
surface density of deposition layer can be obtained as

Zp 1
.f0 fL /
mL D tan Z tan
2
ZfL f0
(9.28)
Zp 1
f
D tan Z tan
2
Z .f0 C f / f0
Because no restricted condition is used in the process of deducing the equations

above, the result has a wide generality, which suits longitudinal wave and shear
wave. It is clear that it varies the relational expression between frequency and mass,
when acoustic impedances of coating layers are different. When coating layer and
piezoelectric layer has the same acoustic impedance (Z D 1) and the mass change
is very tiny (f f0 ), the equation translates into Sauerbrey equation.
9.4.2 MBVD Circuits of FBAR Sensor
In order to facilitate the analysis of the electrical impedance characteristics of FBAR

sensor, it is on the basis of MBVD model that Zhang et al. [21] put forward the
equivalent circuit model of FBAR sensor working both in gas and liquid, as shown
in Fig. 9.5.
As shown, in MBVD equivalent circuit added mass is expressed through the
inductance L3 :
4fs Lm 3 t3
L3 D (9.29)
p vp
where 3 , t3 is respectively thickness and density of coating layer. When the

piezoelectric material in FBAR borders a certain sticky liquid, the equivalent circuit
can be shown as Fig. 9.5, where the viscous effect of the said liquid is expressed
a b c
Lm
Lm
Lm
Cm
Cm
Rm
Co Co
Co
Cm L2
Rm
liquid
adsorption
R2
Rm L3
L3
liquid
adsorption Mass
adsorption
Fig. 9.5 MBVD equivalent circuits of FBAR sensors: (a) Ideal situation; (b) Mass adsorption;
(c) Adsorption in liquid
by a inductance L2 and a resistance R2 , which stand for frequency changes of

sound waves, and attenuation of sound waves. At this time the Q value of FBAR
sensor is:
!L 2
.Lm C L2 C L3 /
QD D (9.30)
R Rm C R2
9.4.3 Substance Testing with FBAR
At the year of 2003, the reports about substance testing with FBAR began to appear.
The first one was released by German Siemens [22–24]. They adopted ZnO solidly
mounted FBAR in which multi-layer structure of three iterative ZnO/Pt layers
constituted Bragg reflector. The resonance frequency of FBAR is 2.2 GHz and the
Q value is 400 by BVD model fitting. A layer of HC-polymer whose thickness
is 50–650 nm was spinning coated on the device as absorbed layer. When 50 nm
HC-polymer was coated, the resonance frequency drift of sensor is proportional
to the mass of absorbed water vapor whose carrier gas was N2 . The humidity
sensitivity was reported as 6.8 kHz/%r.h. When the spin-coating got thicker, the
linearity between resonance frequency drift and absorbed mass began to become
undesired. When the HC-polymer is too thick, according to the author, compared
with absorbed mass change, the changes of acoustic wave in HC-polymer cannot be
ignored. Otherwise, after absorbed gas, the density and acoustic property of polymer
also have changed. The reasons above can lead to the nonlinearity of response when
the HC-polymer is too thick. At the same time, the group applied the sensor in
testing for DNA and protein molecules, whose sensitivity is about 2,500 times [23]
higher than that of 20 MHz QCM.
In Italy, Brederlow et al. [25] in the University of Roma made a similar
experiment. They adopt AlN material to constitute the Bragg reflector of resonator
whose Q value is as high as 500 in air. Through matching DNA, AlN material can
adsorb certain substance with a preferential adsorption, and the response frequency
drifts 10 kHz to mass adsorption of 1 ng/m2 .
In the UAS, Zhang’s group [14, 15, 21, 26, 27] in University of Southern
California reported a FBAR sensor which can work in a lot of liquid. The resonator
structure they adopted is Al(0.2 m) /ZnO(1.8 m)/Al(0.2 m)/Si3 N4 (0.6 m).
Figure 9.5 shows the structure diagram and photos of testing and real object. The
Q value of device is 250 in the air, but 15 in the water. After testing many kinds of
substances, the adsorption experiments show that the sensor can detect mass change
of 108 g/cm2 when the FBAR resonance frequency is near 2 GHz.
On the FBAR electrode they deposited a layer of TiO2 as adsorption function
layer. When the device was put in K2 CO3 solution, OH on function layer surface is
instead by OK , so the device can test the concentration of solution. The resonance
frequency can drift 100 kHz [27] to the concentration of 10 mM. Using Au as
adsorption layer of the FBAR sensor, it can also detect metal ions in solution.
Demonstrated by experiments, the device can effectively detect Hg2C ions with the
solution concentration of 0.2 ppb–2 ppm [14]. Recently, the group also reported that
the sensor can detect matching DNA sequences used by coating specific base-pairs
[15] in FBAR.
In addition, the FBAR working in shear wave mode is also applied in biochemical
sensor. Because particle vibration direction of shear wave is perpendicular to the
direction of propagation that is to the thickness direction of the piezoelectric crystal,
the direction of particle vibration is along the surface of crystal. So, in theory in
liquid phase environment, loss of shear wave is zero. The traditional QCM is the
quartz crystal cut by AT working in shear wave mode. In order to produce shear
wave in the FBAR, generally there should be an angle between c axis of six-party
crystal and the direction of driving electric field, to generate horizontal electric field
component and stimulate the shear wave. At present, AlN and ZnO FBAR sensors
working in shear mode have been reported.
Sweden’s Wingqvist research group [16–18, 28, 29]developed the shear wave
FBAR sensor of AlN material, and measured the changed relation between mass
and resonant frequency in the liquids of different viscous coefficients. The c axis
of AlN film tilts 30ı , and the pictures of device structure and testing process is
shown in Fig. 9.6. In University of Zurich in Switzerland, Weber et al. [30, 31]
developed FBAR sensors in shear mode for testing antigen and antibody, using the
ZnO film whose c axis tilt 16ı and ZnO/Pt as Bragg reflector. Resonance frequency
of device is 790 MHz, Q value1 is 50 in water solution, the response speed of device
Fig. 9.6 Schematic diagram of the liquid FBAR sensor developed by the University of southern
California (a), testing (b), and real photos (c) and (d)
a b
Network
Analyzer
In Out
AIN Al
Si Liquid Si
Fig. 9.7 The FBAR sensor in shear wave mode developed by Wingqvist’s research group:
(a) structure of device; (b) photo when tested
is 4.4 kHz/s, and the mass sensitivity is 7.6 ng/cm2 . In the resonator shear wave and
longitudinal wave are both stimulated. In air, resonance frequency of shear wave is
1.2 GHz while Q value is 310, and the resonance frequency longitudinal wave is
2.2 GHz while Q value is 220. In water, the Q values of two kinds of modes both
decreases. Q values are 210 in shear mode and 30 in longitudinal wave mode. In
glycerol of different density and viscosity, the square of resonance frequency drift in
sensor is linear with the product of glycerin viscous coefficient and the density, and
the sensitivity to mass is 2.08 ng/cm2 . In addition, Link et al. [31] used the FBAR
based on shear mode ZnO whose resonance frequency is 830 MHz, and sensitivity
in the water and glycerin solution can reach 1 kHz cm2 /ng (Fig. 9.7).
9.5 FBAR Sensor Coated with CNTs Sensitive Material 143
Table 9.2 Several

transformation relationships Variable quantity Frequency relation
between physical quantities f m m
Attached mass fp
/
and the resonance frequency M
f vi s 2Q
that can be used in the FBAR Environmental viscosity fp
/
Q
f T T
Environmental temperature fp
/
q
T
P ˇ Z ˇ2
f z ˇ ˇ
Boundary impedance / Z
fp
f noise
Noise signal / P Ci Q1 t 2 1
kT
fp measure
Recently high frequency FBAR was also reported to be applied in mass sensor.
Rey et al. [32] use AlN film with the thickness of 180–300 nm to develop the
FBAR device that has the resonance frequency of 6–8 GHz and the sensitivity of
40 kHz cm2 /ng, which is applied to detect fatty acid. Loschonsky et al. [33] studied
the mass sensitivity of FBAR working in mode of high degree harmonic wave.
The domestic study of FBAR sensors is relatively early. From 2006, the institute
of Microsystem and IT in Chinese Academy of Science(CAS) began using ZnO
solidly mounted resonators for research of protein detection [34]. In the experi-
ments, the sensitivity of the sensor is 8.97 kHz cm2 /ng, about 8,000 times more than
traditional 20 MHz QCM. Their experimental results published in Applied Physics
Letter are selected by Virtual Journal of Biological Physics Research, which was
published on the Journal in April 2007. Recently, zhejiang university and Shanghai
jiaotong university also began the research.
9.4.4 Other FBAR-Based Detections
The principle of the FBAR sensor is same as QCM, so it can also be used in other
QCM field where the application of. Table 9.2 summarizes several transformation
relationship between physical quantities and the resonance frequency that can be
used in the FBAR [25, 35]
9.5 FBAR Sensor Coated with CNTs Sensitive Material
It can realize a new type of mass sensor to coat CNTs material on the surface of
FBAR as a sensitive adsorption layer. The sensor realizing high resonance frequency
by FBAR greatly broke through the resonant frequency (< 20 MHz) range of
QCM. The related researches show that the sensitivity of FBAR sensor has achieved
the magnitude of nanogram, and have the potential of further development to the
magnitude of picogram.
9.5.1 Formation Method of CNTs Selective Layer
In the manufacturing process of the FBAR sensor, a basic problem is how to form
CNTs sensitive layer. At present, For the preparation of CNTs layer, the methods
below are commonly used: spin-coating method, silk screen print method, LB
pulling method, electrophoresis method and self-assembly method, among which
the spin-coating method [25] and LB pulling method [11–13] have been used in
QCM and SAW. For the FBAR sensors, the CNTs sensitive layer should meet the
requirements below:
1. The combination of FBAR electrode and CNTs sensitive layer must be close,
having certain strength, in order to guarantee that the CNTs layer won’t fall off
when processing and testing;
2. CNTs layer needs to have a certain density, and CNTs should distribute well on
the plane of FBAR electrode to ensure that the absorption can bring obvious and
uniform mass change;
3. CNTs layer need be graphical, so that the sensitive film is coated on effective
device area and the thickness of CNTs layer should be able to be controlled
accurately, in order to meet the different detective requirements.
4. Coating process doesn’t cause damage to the structure of the FBAR device.
Given all these requirements above, surface of CNTs film deposited by spin-
coating method and silk screen print method is usually out of flatness, and film
thickness is too much and difficult to be controlled. CNTs layer developed by LB
pulling method is hard to get imaging. Self-assembly process needs concentrated
acid treatment which has corrosion effect to piezoelectric materials. In the actual
formation of CNTs layer, the coating method should be chose according to specific
materials and experimental technology.
9.5.2 Example of FBAR Sensor
Here based on the FBAR sensor whose CNTs sensitive layer is coated by elec-
trophoresis method, the main properties can be analyzed and explained. Every
device has 2 AlN solidly mounted FBARs that adopt 3-period W/Ti Bragg reflector.
One coating layer acts as the sensing layer, and the other is no-loaded as a frequency
reference device. Figure 9.8 shows photomicrograph from top view FBAR sensor
after electrophoresis.
The top electrode of the FBAR sensors obviously covered with the CNTs thin
layer, while the other parts of the device without. After several times rinsing, the thin
layer of the CNTs remain intact. The density of the CNTs can be simply controlled
by adjusting the electrophoretic time. With the increase of the electrophoresis
deposit time, the density of CNTs on the surface of the sample also is increasing
gradually.
Fig. 9.8 Photomicrograph of FBAR sensor from top view after electrophoresis
a 0 b 0
–2 –2
–4 –4
–6 194 nm –6 390 nm
304 nm
122 nm
–8 –8
–10 –10
2.0 2.2 2.4 2.6 2.8 2.0 2.2 2.4 2.6 2.8
Frequency (GHZ) Frequency (GHZ)
Fig. 9.9 S11 parametric curve of different top electrode thicknesses in FBAR devices. The top
electrode thicknesses are (a) 194 nm and 122 nm (b) 390 nm and 304 nm
9.5.3 Mass Sensitivity of Sensor Frequency
In order to understand the mass sensitivity of the FBAR sensor, firstly the device res-
onance frequencies with different top electrode thicknesses are measured. Figure 9.9
shows the microwave return loss (S11 ) results from the network analyzer. As the
thicknesses of the Al top electrodes increase from 122 to 390 nm, the resonance
frequencies of the device reduce from 2.490 to 2.342 GHz. The practical device
mass sensitivity to Al is 1.8 kHz/ngcm2 , about 1/5 of the theoretical value.
a 0 b 0
–2 –2
Return loss |S11 | (dB)

–4 –4
Sensor
Sensor 3 min
–6 1 min –6 Reference
Reference
–8 Δf = 0 MHZ –8 Δf = 4 MHZ
–10 –10
2.0 2.2 2.4 2.6 2.8 2.0 2.2 2.4 2.6 2.8
Frequency (GHZ) Frequency (GHZ)
c 0
–2
–4 Sensor
–6 5 min Reference
–8 Δf = 11 MHZ
–10
2.0 2.2 2.4 2.6 2.8
Frequency (GHZ)
Fig. 9.10 The S11 curves of the FBAR after CNTs deposition (a) 1 min (b) 3 min (c) 5 min
9.5.4 Frequency Response to Added Mass

of CNTs Deposition Layer
CNTs deposition on the FBAR layer can also cause resonance frequency reduction.
In order to rule out the thickness effect of the electrode or piezoelectric film, the
S11 curves of sensor and reference device are measured and compared at the same
time. Figure 9.10 shows the S11 curves of the FBAR device of CNTs electrophoresis
deposition on the electrode surface for 1, 3 and 5 min, respectively. The mass of
CNTs is very small after 1 min electrophoresis deposition. Because the frequency
resolution of the device is not enough, the change of the resonance frequency is not
obvious, while after 3 or 5 min deposition, the resonance frequency of the device
reduce 4 and 11 MHz, respectively. Supposing the CNTs deposition rate is linear,
and then the rate of the device resonance frequency as the change of electrophoretic
time is 2.13 MHz/min approximately.
In order to compare the performances of the FBAR sensor and QCM, the QCM
with 6 MHz center frequency is also used to test the resonance frequency change
after the CNTs electrophoresis deposition on the electrode surface. Test results show
that when the electrophoresis deposition time is less than 5 min, the change of QCM
resonance frequency is very small and unstable. Seven hundred Hertz frequency
Fig. 9.11 S11 curves of the –3

same FBAR sensor before
After absorbtion
and after adsorption in the

ethanol atmosphere of 3% –4
concentration, the CNTs
deposition time on electrode
surface is 1 min –5
Before absorbtion
–6 Δf = 18 MHZ
–7
2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6
Frequency (GHZ)
shift shows up when the time is 5 min. Through the linear fitting to QCM frequency
shift with the deposition time for 5–30 min, the rate of QCM resonance frequency
change as electrophoretic time can be got as 87 Hz ac/min, a number lower about
four orders of magnitude than FBAR sensor. From the current report, some other
SAW sensors cannot detect tiny mass changes caused by the CNTs density change.
The experimental results show that the FBAR sensor has sensitive mass detection
ability and huge potential application value in weighing.
9.5.5 The Frequency Response to CNTs Adsorption
After depositing the sensitive layer of CNTs, FBAR is very sensitive in gas
adsorption. Gas adsorption experiment was held after 1 min CNTs electrophoresis
onto the surface of top electrode in FBAR sensor. To guarantee the CNTs can have
saturation adsorption, sensors should be placed in the test atmosphere for 10 min and
tested immediately after saturation adsorption. Figure 9.10 shows the S11 curves of
the same FBAR sensor before and after adsorption in the ethanol atmosphere of 3%
concentration. The resonance frequency of device reduces 18 MHz after adsorption
and resonant amplitude also declines slightly (Fig. 9.11).
Reichl et al. [2, 6–8] reported a kind of FBAR humidity sensor with ZnO-SMR
as resonators and polymer as adsorption layer. When the thickness of polymer
membrane layer is 50 nm, the frequency shift of sensor is 1 MHz in 90% humidity
environment. When the thickness is 230 nm, the frequency shift will increase to
about 20 MHz under the same environment. So despite the S11 curve is not carried
in the testing atmosphere, the 18 MHz frequency shift of the resonators still can
reflect the obvious mass addition of CNTs after adsorption of alcohol molecular.
In order to compare the response difference to gas adsorption between FBAR
sensor and QCM, frequency variation of QCM is measured under the same
atmosphere. The electrophoresis deposition time of CNTs on QCM surface is
10 min. The frequency shift of QCM is 2.01 kHz after placed in 3% ethanol
atmosphere for 10 min. It can be seen that the frequency shift of FBAR sensors
for CNTs to ethanol adsorption is about 9,000 times of QCM. The result shows the
feasibility of application on gas detection of FBAR sensor.
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Index
A Dispersion relation, 20–21

Ababneh, A., 65 Displacement current, 34, 42
Abhijat, 135 Dry etching, 57–62
Acoustic
impedance, 9, 10, 36–38, 41, 43, 82–84, 87,
E
131, 138, 139
ECR. See Electron cyclotron resonance (ECR)
loss, 38, 39
EDS. See Energy disperse spectroscopy (EDS)
velocity, 5, 6, 8, 48, 51, 114, 115, 117,
Elastic compliance coefficient, 24
122–123
Elastic stiffness constant, 16, 20, 21, 24, 26,
Air gap structure resonator, 9, 10
127
Alternate electric field, 129
Electric hysteresis loop, 76–77
Attenuation coefficient, 39, 87
Electromechanical coupling constant, 33, 36,
39
B
Electron cyclotron resonance (ECR), 57, 58
Bragg acoustic reflector, 81, 84, 119
Energy disperse spectroscopy (EDS), 56
Bragg reflector structure, 71
Etching rate, 57–62, 65, 77, 78, 89
Brederlow, R., 141
Bulk acoustic wave (BAW) resonator, 2, 5–7, 9
F
C Film acoustic wave resonator (FBAR), 7–13,
Carbon nanotubes, 134–136 16, 31–51, 57, 71–79, 85, 97–107,
Ceramic resonator, 2, 4, 5, 11 109–148
Chemical adsorption, 130 Fourier transform infrared spectroscope, 58
Chemical solution deposition, 75 Frequency selection, 84
Christoffel equation, 17–19, 22–24, 26,
112–115
Christoffel matrix, 18, 27, 114 G
Clamped dielectric constant, 24, 26 Gravimetric sensors, 110
Coefficient matrix of viscosity, 39
Converse piezoelectric effect, 15, 16 I
Coupled resonator filter, 102 Interdigitated transducer (IDT), 12
Curie, J., 15 Inverse velocity face, 20–21
Curie, P., 15
D K
Dielectric dissipation, 77, 78 Kanazawa, K., 128
Diffusion-limited etching, 66 Kong, 134
DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-31776-7,
152 Index
L R
Lateral field excitation (LFE), 109–113, Rayleigh wave, 11–12
115–120, 124 Reaction rate-limited etching, 66
LC resonator, 3 Reactive ion etching, 58, 77
Link, M., 142 Reactive sputtering, 52, 88, 121
Longitudinal mode wave, 23, 27, 28, 32, Reflection efficiency, 84, 87
38–39, 142 Reichl, W., 147
Loschonsky, M., 143 Resonance frequency, 9–11, 34, 35, 78, 79,
Lucci, M., 135 87, 99, 100, 105, 122, 123, 125–127,
129–131, 133, 136, 138, 140–143, 146,
147
M Rey-Mermet, S., 143
Mason model, 93, 100 RF reactive sputtering, 52, 88, 121
Mass sensitivity, 12, 13, 137, 142, 143,
145–146
Maxwell equation, 24 S
Membrane structure, 9, 10, 43, 44, 71–79 Sauerbrey equation, 11, 12, 124, 128, 131, 137,
Membrane-type resonator, 9, 10 139
Microbalance sensor, 125–129 Scanning electron microscopy, 52, 58, 63, 89,
Microelectromechanical system (MEMS), 6–7, 122
51 Series resonance frequency, 34, 79, 129
Shear acoustic wave, 8, 111, 122
Shear mode wave, 23, 27–29, 72, 141, 142
P Solidly mounted resonator (SMR), 9, 10, 13,
Parallel resonance frequency, 34, 35, 79, 95, 81–95, 143
100 Stacked crystal filter, 102
Particle velocity, 18, 21, 36, 40, 43, 137 Static capacitance, 42, 46, 102
Penza, M., 135 Stiffness tensor, 113
Permittivity tensor, 113 Stoney’s equation, 52
Perovskite phase, 76 Surface acoustic wave (SAW) resonator, 2, 4,
Photolithography, 60, 63, 73, 89, 121 5, 11, 97, 123
Physical adsorption, 130 Surface mass density, 12, 128
Piezoelectric
coupling tensor, 113
crystal biosensor, 132–133
crystal sensor, 129–133, 136 T
effect, 15, 16, 24, 42, 125 Thickness filed excitation, 109–111, 115
resonant sensor, 57, 110, 129, 133 Transmission
stiffness constant, 26, 42 line mode, 39–41, 44
strain constant, 24 line resonator, 2–5
stress constant, 24, 26 matrix, 41, 44, 45, 82–85, 101
transducer, 115, 117
Piezoelectric-strain equation, 24
Plasma etching, 61, 77 V
Protein detection, 143 Vanhelmont, F., 106
Q W
QCM. See Quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) Weber, J., 141
Q-factor, 39, 49, 73, 79, 86, 95, 98, 105, Wet etching, 62–68, 74, 77, 89
120–122, 124
Quartz crystal microbalance (QCM), 11, 12,
110, 125–126, 128, 129, 131–133, Z
135–137, 141, 143, 144, 146–148 Zhang, H., 139

Multilayer Integrated Film Bulk Acoustic Resonators - Yafei Zhang, Da Chen

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Yafei Zhang • Da Chen

Multilayer Integrated Film

ISBN 978-3-642-31775-0 ISBN 978-3-642-31776-7 (eBook)

Jointly published with Shanghai Jiao Tong University Press, Shanghai

Library of Congress Control Number: 2012945306

Printed on acid-free paper

Springer is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com)

The growth of the telecommunication industry has accelerated the development of

Another application of FBAR is for the high-sensitive micro-quality piezoelectric

Raytheon Professor of Physical Science and Electronics Kang L. Wang

3 The Theory of FBAR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

5 The FBAR with Membrane Structure .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

8.2 Theoretical Backgrounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

Keywords RF filters • Film bulk acoustic wave resonator • Device configure •

1.1 RF Filters in GHz Wireless Applications

1.1.1 The Requirement of RF Filters

Y. Zhang and D. Chen, Multilayer Integrated Film Bulk Acoustic Resonators, 1

1.1.2 Types of RF Filters

MINIMUM INSERTION LOSS, (dB)

Thin Film On-Chip Microstrip

Fig. 1.1 Comparison of various front-end filter at 1,575 MHz

a filter implemented with an inductor Q of 20 still remains quite large. To achieve

1.2 Bulk Acoustic Wave (BAW) Resonator

1.2.1 BAW Resonator

For traditional electroacoustic resonator technologies in the microwave region,

1.2.2 Micro Electromechanical Systems (MEMS) Applied

In many technical systems there is a strong trend for miniaturization of the

1.3 The Principle and Configurations of FBAR

1.3.1 The Principle of FBAR

In other words, T3 D e33 Ez , T4 D el5 Ey , and TS D e15 Ex . Thus, z-directed external

1.3.2 Typical FBAR Configurations

a Electrode Piezoelectric film

c Electrode Piezoelectric film

1.3.3 Current Status of FBAR Filters

1.4 The Application of FBAR in Mass Loading Sensors

1.4.1 Acoustic Resonant Mass Sensors

interdigitated transducer (IDT) electrode design. AC voltage excitation is required

1.4.2 FBAR Mass Loading Sensors

1.5 Overview of the Chapters

In this chapter, an introduction to piezoelectric bulk acoustic resonators is given.

5. Lucyszyn, S.: Review of radio frequency microelectromechanical systems technology. IEE

Keywords Christoffel equation • Cubic crystal • Acoustic wave • Piezoelectric

Y. Zhang and D. Chen, Multilayer Integrated Film Bulk Acoustic Resonators, 15

2.1 The Equation of Acoustic Plane Wave

2.1.1 The Equation of Elastic Deformation

The essential equations of elastic deformation are strain-displacement equation and

The differential operator r and r are defined as

2.1.2 Christoffel Equation

where ! is angular frequency, k D 2 /œ is wave number.

Substituting (2.12) into (2.11), we can obtain

ij D liK cKL lLj (2.17)

is called Christoffel matrix, whose elements depend on the propagating direction

2.2 Propagation of Plane Wave in Isotropic Medium

the third one is a longitudinal mode propagating in z direction with velocity of

2.3 Propagation of Plane Wave in Anisotropic Medium

2.3.1 Dispersion Relation and Inverse Velocity Face

where the ij is depends on the projections (lx , ly , lz ) and is described as

Equation (2.27) determines a curved face in wave-vector space which is called

where k /! is the reciprocal of phase velocity and is a function of propagation

2.3.2 The Solution of Wave Equation in Cubic Crystal

Substituting (2.30) into(2.28), we obtain the Christoffel equation of cubic crystal:

Equation (2.34) has three solutions as follows:

The proper equation of (2.37) is

The differential operator r and r are defined as

ij D liK cKL lLj (2.17)

.z/ D .az C b/ exp.j!t/ (2.68)

:̂ T D 33 z3 zz vC exp Œj .!t kz/ C v exp Œj .!t kz/ C e aexp .j!t /

vn D vnC1 I T n n D T nC1 n ; (3.28)