TheoreticalAnalysis of SAW PropagationCharacteristicsunder theStrainedMediumandApplicationsforHighTemperatureStable HighCoupling SAW Substrates

K. Yamanouchi',

K. Kotani",

H. Odagawa"and

Y. Cho"

*
**

Tohoku Institute of Technology, Sendai, Japan ResearchInstitute of ElectricalCommunication, TohokuUniversity,Sendai,Japan

Abslract - 'The important properties required for SAW substrates a are large electro-mechanical coupling coefficient small (kz), temperalure coefficient o l frequency (TCI'), low propagalion loss. etc. A t present, there i s no single crystal satisfies which all the above mentioned requirements. Recently the efforts to develop new SAW substrate with large k and ' sn1alI TCF have investigated. New KNbOs single crystal substrates with extremely large electromechanical coupling coeificicnl (k2=53%) and zero TCF around r m m temperature are developed. LiNbO. has good properties as the SAW substrates with a large size. Unfortunately LiNbOa possesses the defect of large values of TCF. In this paper, SAW bonded composite substrates with a large k'. small 'TCF, low propagation loss and no dispersion using convpntional bonders are invesligated theorelically and experimentally. propagation The characteristics of SAW i n the strained piezoelerlric crystal using the higher-order elasl i c i l y theory have been analyzed. The theoretical results show zero on TCF LiNbOt/Si02 substrates. A t roan temperature a relatively lhin LiNbO, is firmly bonded to a glass mater iw l t h ai a small thermal expansion coefficient by using ultra-violet rays stiffen bonder. 'The experirnenlal of results LiNbO,/glass subslratc showcd TCFof-ISppm/'C. The propasalion propertis were almost ihc same as those of thesinglecrystal.

1 . Introduction
device mainly depend substrate materials. The important propertics required for SAW substrates are large electromechanical coupling crnfficient(k'). small temperature coefficient ot delay(TCI1). low propagation loss, elc. A t present. thew i s no single cryslal. satisfies which all the above mentioned requiremenls. Recently efforts to develop new SAW substrates with k2 large and small TCD have lollowed several methods. The best method is lo find npw matwials the with desired properties. KNbO, single crystal has extremely large electromechanical coupling coefficient (k2=53%)[11. I t i s possible to fabricate wideband SAW filters. wideband VCO. delay lines with Small insertion loss utilizing KNbO, sinSAW

The properties of

crystal. fileLangasritr single crystal has bren receiving attention due its to excellent properties. such as zero TCD and relatively large k'. compared with the quartz. These cryslals are expected t o be grown easily and low cost. LiNbOI has the good properties ol having value large oi k2(5.5%) and very a low spurious rrsponse. Unlortunatcly LiNbO, lhas the defect of a large values of ?CD. A numbw of invesligalions have tollowed the concept of combining malerials to produce a temperature compensated composite material. I t i s possible to obtain surface acoustic wave materials that have zero temperature coefficient of frequency ( I C F ) by overlaying a thin SiOz f i lw i t h m positive TCF on LiNbO, with negative lCFL2.31. There are some potenlial problems with the layered composite material. such as propagation losses, dispersion, as well as difficullies of SiO, r?producibilily. In this paper, SAW bond-d composite substrates with high rlectromechanicl coupling coefficient and small 'I'CD and low propagation loss and no dispersion investigated arc theoretically and experimmtally. A relatively thin LiNbO. is l i r m l y bonded to a material with a small thermal expansion coefficient (TEC). In this case, only thermal strains in LiNbO, are used IO improve 'ICD of the SAW device. Therefore we sutdied propagation the of surface acoustic waves strainrd in medium using higher-order rlasticiry theory. AI room ternperalure. we fabricatcd LiNbO*/glass slruclurc composite substratus and measured TCI'. W C used ultravtolct rays stifle" bond labricate to bonded compositesubstrate.

on the choice of piezoelFctric

2 , 'Theoretical calculations and expwimental

rrsul ts As already mentionrd. LiNbO. has excellent cuts for use in SAW device. such as the RayIeigh type SAW on 128' Y-X LiNbO, with high coupling coelficienl(k2=5.5%) and very small spurious response. thc leaky SAW on 64' Y - X LiNbOa propagalion with zero loss and high roupling coefficient (k'= I1.3%)[4]. However LiNbO, has large value of TCII. 'To compensatc the large TCD. the variations o the SAW velof c i t y and the propagation distance caused by the lhermal strains for varying temperature are kept as constant. Figure I shows our proposed bonded composite substrate and the Car-

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0 1999 IEEE

1999 IEEE ULTRASONICS SYMPOSIUM - 239

Iesian coordinate system for the geometry of surface acoustic waves propagating on the LiNbO,. where A i s the thickness of lower substrat?. H i s the thickness of the LiNW,, X , is in the direction of propagation of SAW .and X I i s normal to the frce surface. A relativcly thin LiNbO. i s firmly bonded to a thick substrate with a small TEC. For lilA<<l,we can consider the thernlal expansion coefticientsthe of LiNbO, is the Same as the lower substrate in the X, and XI direction. 'Therefore, the strains i n the LiNbO, are caused by the difference between the thermal expansion coefficients of LiNbO, and lower substralc. Assuming the thermal expansion coefficients in the X,, XI directions of lower substrat? are a and those a in the X,, X, directions of LiNbO, are a , n , ? . respectively. the strain S, in the X , direction of the LiNbOI and the strain S , in the X z direction are given as follows: Sl=(o.l.oll)(T.TO) (1)

change of the withtemperature Thc temperature by

stressed LiNbO, i s given by

drnslly
(IO)

p(~)=p(~.~~+(n.,+a.r+a,,Xr--7.)-S,)

dependence of delay

is

given

KD=a,,-ZV

We used the third-order elastic constant l o r and calculated the changed secondLiNb0.[7] order elastic constant. Using the changed elastic cwE.lants and density. we calculated I S C . 25'C. 35'C respecthe SAW velocities at tiveiy. The analytical m?thod for thc calculation of surfacr acoustic wave velocity was that used in RelerenrelX1. Substituting the velocilies l o equation ( I l l . the temperalure c o e l l i c i r n l of dPlay was calculated. Figure 2 shows the calculation results of temperature coelficient of delay vs thermal expansion coeflicient of the lower substrate. SZ(os2-olZ)R.TO) (2) We calculaled about the Raylrigh wave propawhere T is the operation temperature of the of a I 2 g rotated Ygating along the X axis SAW devices and To i s the temperature at the unstrained state (corresponding l o the bonding cut i n LiNbOI and the leaky wave propagating rotated Y-cut in along the X axis ol a 64 lower temperature). the LiNbO. is bonded to a LiNbOa. In this calculation, we assumed that substrate at roan temperature(2SC) and the the lower substrate was isotropic and the strains in tlw LiNbOI are very small around value of l l ~ e thermal expansion coelIicient was room temperature. The relation between the the sarnr in any direction. A t the case of t h r stresses(o) and the strains in the LiNbOa is 64. Y - X LiNbO,, we couldobtain zero TCD even givrn as lollows. i f the thermal expansion coefficient o f the o,=c,,s,+c,,s*+c,,s, (3) lower substrate was positivc. Unfortunately, 0 2 = 4 , +%,S, +CJ, (4) the case of the 128' Y - X LiNbO,. we could not o=c,,s, + c S +c,$, (fi) obtain the possibility of considerable improwllerc c , , IS"& elastac constants of LlNbO,. vemenl. From the result of the calculation. we We can obtain the strain S I in the XI direcfabricated a 64. Y - X LiNbO,(short)/fused quartion lrom equation ( 5 ) . tz (TEC=O.SSppml'C) structure composite subsThe changed elastic constants c', in the lrale. We used ultraviolet rays s t i l l e n bond strainrdmaterialare as a bonder. It i s easy to obtain a fairly l I (6) dm = c +-c,m,..s., +-e*S. thin bonding layer less than 1 . 2 ~m. Also as l " 2 the bonding temperature is about room temperawe obtain. by using the Since c , , =c,, lure, residual the stress at the operating abbreviated matrix notationl 5.61. temperature will be small.compared with the E'" =E" +cuts, (7) complicated direct bonding substrates[Y]. where the c , are the third-order elastic A l t e r the bonding process, thinncd the LiNbO, constants of the material. surlacr. We can obtain the effective elastic constants and then polished the Unidirectional 01 the strained material by substituting the interdigital transducers with pair nurnbcr N.30 strains S , . S > , S, into cquation(7). 'Therefore and an aperture of 1 X A a t a centw frequency o 240MHz were fabaricated on the LiNbVa. f the effective elastic constants of the LiNbO, Figur? 3 shows the mrasurmnent system of t h r at the operation tempwature T are givcn as telnperaturr coctficicnt 01 frequency. 'The trnmperature dcpcndrncirs 01 t h r S A W oscillation Ircqucnry of 64' Y - X LiNbO, and 64' Y-X LiNbO,/lused quartz structure subsrrates(T1w where 8 c ,/dT' are the first-orderternpuraturr thickness of the 64. Y - X LiNbO, was loop m, coefliciunts. Substituting equation(1).(2).(5) ~ into equation(8). we can undcrrtand that the 6 3 m, 4011 m ) are shown inFigure 4 . 'The TCF's shows Fig.>. The TCI: of 64' Y-x change ot Ihe second-order elastic Constants resu1ts LiNb0,(4Yfi m)/fused quartz structure was of the LiNbO. w i t h temperature can controbe 64. Y l l r d by the thermal expansion coefficicnts of ilnprowd to -34ppml'C from -76ppm/'Cof X LiNbO,. The frequency responses of the SAW the lower substrate. To use the relation. we fabricated on 6 4 ' Y - X LiNbOn and 6 ' Y 4 r a n improve temperature dependence ofthe SAW fillcrs X LiNbO,(4Op m)/lused structurp quartz subsvelocity. trateare shown i n Figure Compared with 64Following Bolotin. the equation of motion lor surface acoustic wave in piezoelectric medium ')'-X LiNbOl substrate, W ? could obtain allnost the same frequency response at 64. Y - X LkNbO, which is initially under stresses are161 ( 4 0 p In)/iusrd quartz ~ t r ~ c t usubstrate. Thc r ~ j = 1.2.3 (91 loss due tu lhinning the LiNbOa to L1 was not observed. Fig. 6 shows the relation between the LiNbO. this equation of motion IO calculate the velothickness and TCD obtained by measurement cities surface of acoustic waves propagating results. on the stressed LiNbO.. In this case, the

.,, .),

,,

,..

,-, ,

,,

~~.

>.

240 - 1999 IEEE ULTRASONICS SYMPOSIUM

Using this relation, we can estimate the TCD which neglects the variationthermal of expansion coefficient with lhickness the of the LiNbO,. Therefore, we can compare the calculation results with the experimental results. The difference between the calculation results and experimental results are about 30ppm.lt i s thought that the lhermal strains in LiNbOI were weaken by bonding layer. To obtain more temperature stable substrate, we must combinr a smaller or a minus thermal expansion coefficient substrate with LiNbOl. We fabricated a 64. Y-X LiNbO,/glass (TEC=-0.6ppm/'C) struclure substrate using the same methods and measured TCF. Figure 7 shows the results. The value of the TCF was improved to -ISppm/'Cat a 6 4 ' Y - X LiNb08(40p m)/glass(TEC=-fl.6ppn,/'C) structure substrate. Conrlusion SAW bonded compositr substrates with high rlectrornechanical coupling coefficient and small TCD and low propagation loss and no dispersion investigated are theoretically and ?xperimenlally. We studied the propagation of surface acoustic waves strained in medium using higher-order elasticity theory to calculate the TCD of composite substrate. From computation results, we could obtain almost zero TCD at slructure th? of 64' Y-X LiNbOs Ifused quartz(TCC=0.55ppln/'C). At rmm t?rnprrature. we labricatcd 64' Y - X LiNb0,lfused quartz structure composite substrate and measured TCF. We used ultraviolet rays stiffen bond to fabricate bonded composite substrate. The T C F of 64' Y - X LiNbOS(4flprn)/fusedquartz structure was improved to -34ppml'C from LiNbOa. To obtain more -76ppmI.C of 64' Y-X t?mperature stable substrate, we fabricated a 64'Y-X LiNb0,(40p m)lglass(TEC=-0.6ppm/'C) structure substrate using the same methods and the value of theTCF was improved to -19ppml'C Reference H.Odanawa. T.Koiima and 1.Malsumura. "Theoretical and Experimental Study of Super-High Electromechanical Coupling Surlace Acoustic Wave Propagation i n KNbO, Sinfile Crystal", Electron. Lett.. vo1.33. No.3. pp.192-193. 1997 12lK.Yamanouchi. I-LSatoh, T.Meguro and Y.Wagatsurna."tHigh Temperature Stable GlHz-Range LowLoss Wide Band Transducrrs and Filter Using SiO,/LiNbOa. LiTaO,", IEEE Trans. Ultrason. Ferr. Freq. Contl., vol.42. No.3, pp.392-396. 1995 [3II'.E.Parker and H.Wichansky,".TemperatureColrrpensated Surface-Acoustic-Wave Ueviccs w i t h SiU, F i l m Overlavs". J.Aool.lJhys.50(3), pp. 1360- 1369. March 1979 [4]KYamanouchi and K.Shibayama."Propagation o Amplification o RaylPigh Waves f f and Piezoelectric Leaky Surface Waves in LiNbOl". l.Appl.Phys., ~01.43. No.3. pp.856-862, March 1972 [>]K.Yamanouchi. M.lshii K.Shibayama, and "Thrrmal Effects Strain of Acoustic Surface Waves in Layered Media", Electron. Lert.. vol.l4. No.24. pp.784-786 Recorder I6IA.L.Nalamwar and M.Epstein."Surface Acousric Waves in Strained Media", J.Appl.Phys., vol.47. No.1. pp.43-4X, January 1976

171Y.Cho and K.Yamanouchi."Nonlinear, Elastic, Piezwlectric. Electrostrictive. and Dielectric Constants Lithium of Niobate". J.Appl. Phys.vol.6I. No.3,pp.875-X87. 1987 181J.J.Campbell and W.R.Jones,"A Method for Estimating Optimal Crystal Cuts and Propagation Excitation directions tor of PiezoeleCtric Surface WAves". IEEE 1-rans.Son. and Ultrason., vol.SU-15. No.4, pp.209-217, Oct. 1968 191 H.Sato. K.Onishi, TShimanura and Y;romita."Temperature Stable SAW Devices Using Direr t l y Bonded LiTaO./Class Substrates".l998 IEEE Ultrason. Sympo..pp.335-338

I I IK.Yamanouchi.

Frequency counter Fig.3 Measurement system

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64" Y-XLiNbO,

Figure 4. T e m p e r a t u r ed e p e n d e n c e resonators

Of

t h e SA W

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