Ultra-Thin Super High Frequency Two-Port AlN Contour-Mode Resonators and Filters

Matteo Rinaldi, University of Pennsylvania
Chiara Zuniga, University of Pennsylvania
Chengjie Zuo, University of Pennsylvania
Gianluca Piazza, University of Pennsylvania

Abstract

This paper reports on the demonstration of a new class of ultra-thin (250 nm thick) Super High Frequency (SHF) AlN piezoelectric two-port resonators and filters. A thickness field excitation scheme was employed to excite a higher order contour extensional mode of vibration in an AlN nano plate (250 nm thick) above 3 GHz and synthesize a 1.96 GHz narrow-bandwidth channel-select filter. The devices of this work are able to operate over a frequency range from 1.9 to 3.5 GHz and are employed to synthesize the highest frequency MEMS filter based on electrically self-coupled AlN contour-mode resonators. Very narrow bandwidth (~ 0.35%) and high off-band rejection (~ 35 dB) were achieved at an operating frequency of 1.96 GHz. This first prototype showed insertion loss of 11 dB, which can be improved to few dB if parasitic elements are eliminated or device capacitance is increased.