3.3 Addition of a buffer layer in patterned-ZnO/Si structure
3.3.1 Patterned-ZnO/SiO 2 /Si structure
To obtain the dispersion characteristics of proposed patterned-ZnO/Si structure with the inclusion of oxide buffer layer, 2D FE simulations are performed over a periodic structure of one port resonator and 2D geometry of the structure is shown in Fig. 3.10. The dimensions of IDT are the same as described in Section 3.2.1, and the simulation methodology is as described in Section 3.2.2, except SiO2 buffer layer is added in the structure. In the simulations, oxide layer is considered as a non- piezoelectric material and the material parameters like density, Young’s modulus, and dielectric constants are adapted from Nakahata et al. [22] and the details of elastic constants are included in Appendix A. Eigenmode analysis is performed on the 2D structure for various thicknesses of oxide film ranging from 0.2 µm to 2.4 µm
with the parametric sweep of ZnO height in the range of 0.1λ–1λ. The phase velocity and K2 dispersion curves of VP surface modes generated by the mode conversion of transverse bulk waves in the patterned-ZnO/0.2µm-SiO2/Si structure are shown in Fig. 3.11. From the dispersion curves we observe that the phase velocities are slightly reduced after inclusion of oxide layer and a significant decrease in K2 value of VPT0 from 8.4 % to 4.4 % is observed, however very small reduction in K2 values of other VP modes generated in the structure is observed. Interestingly, the surface mode VPT2 exhibits slight non-dispersive characteristics within h/λ range of 0.25–0.36 with K2 values ranging between 0.76%–0.86%
IDT
ΓL3
≈ ≈ΓR3
p
(100) Silicon y
x z
PML ΓL4
≈ ≈
ΓR4
SiO2 ≈ΓR2
≈ΓR1
ΓL2≈
ΓL1≈
Fig. 3.10. 2D Geometry of the proposed device with SiO2 layer used for the simulation with periodic boundary conductions.
Fig. 3.11. The phase velocity and K2 dispersion curves of vertically polarized modes generated in patterned-ZnO/0.2µm-SiO2/Si structure due to transverse bulk waves excited in ZnO pattern.
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Chapter 3 Design and Simulation of Patterned-ZnO/Si SAW Devices and phase velocity ranging between 5313 m/s–5224 m/s. Further simulations are carried out with various thicknesses (0.8 µm, 1.6 µm, and 2.4 µm) of SiO2 film and their dispersion characteristics are shown in Fig. 3.12. From the dispersion characteristics of surface modes, it is observed that the phase velocity and coupling coefficient values decrease gradually with increase in the oxide thickness. At oxide thickness of 0.8 µm (0.1λ), the second higher order mode VPT2 exhibits an exciting characteristics of almost constant phase velocity over
Fig. 3.12. Phase velocity and coupling coefficient characteristics of patterned-ZnO/SiO2/Si structure with SiO2 thicknesses of 0.8 µm, 1.6 µm, and 2.4 µm.
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a wide range of h/λ (0.2–0.4) with reasonably high coupling coefficient. Other higher order modes generated in the structure exhibit similar characteristics at higher thicknesses of ZnO, which is difficult to obtain in practice. Further eigenmode analysis is carried out on the proposed structure with parametric sweep of SiO2 thickness for a constant ZnO height of 0.2λ which has shown high K2. The obtained phase velocity and coupling coefficient characteristics of the surface modes are shown in Fig. 3.13. The characteristics of all the surface modes generated in the structure and notable observations in phase velocity and coupling coefficient values are listed in Table 3.2. From the dispersion characteristics obtained with respect to the thickness of oxide layer shown in Fig. 3.13, we observe that the phase velocities of surface modes VPT0 and VPT1 are independent of SiO2 film thickness after
ℎ𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑍𝑍2/λ = 0.2, at which both the surface modes exhibit non-dispersive nature, as the energy
is substantially concentrated within the guiding layer. The phase velocity of other surface modes reduces gradually with increase in thickness of SiO2 film and reaches the surface wave velocity of bulk SiO2. From the K2 dispersion curves shown in Fig. 3.13, we observe that K2 decreases gradually with increase in the thickness of oxide layer and for VPT0 and VPT1 the K2 values are saturated to 1% and 2.5% respectively beyond ℎ𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑍𝑍2/λ = 0.5. In case of VPT2 the K2 values starts at 0.76% and increases up to 1.4% at ℎ𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑍𝑍2/λ = 0.4 and reaches to a value 1.2% at ℎ𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑍𝑍2/λ = 1. VPT3 and VPT4 modes exhibit very low coupling coefficient but high phase velocities. However, the addition of SiO2 buffer layer has resulted in lower K2 value due to the large difference in acoustic impedances between ZnO (15.53 M Rayl) and SiO2 layer (8.28 M Rayl) than between ZnO and silicon (13.6 M Rayl). To improve K2, we replace the SiO2 buffer layer with a layer of AlN, as its acoustic impedance is (18.32 M Rayl) close to ZnO and it is also a piezoelectric material having higher acoustic velocity (5620 m/s) than silicon substrate (4921 m/s).
Fig. 3.13. The phase velocity and K2 dispersion curves of VP modes generated in patterned- ZnO/SiO2/Si structure due to transverse bulk waves excited in ZnO pattern obtained with the parametric sweep of SiO2 thickness (ℎ𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑍𝑍2/λ) for a constant ZnO height of 1.6 μm (0.2λ) which has shown high K2.
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Table 3.2 The notable observations from phase velocity and K2 characteristics given in Fig. 3.10, Fig. 3.11, and Fig. 3.12.
Device
configuration Surface
mode h/λ Phase
velocity
(m/s) K2 (%) TCF
(ppm/℃) Comments
Patterned- ZnO/IDT/0.2
μm-SiO2/Si (Fig. 3.10)
VPT0 0.11 2789 4.6 -7.67 Maximum K2 value.
VPT0 0.037 4630 2.3 0 Zero temperature coefficient.
VPT0 1 160 2.56 -41.5 Low phase velocity is due the reduction in mode frequency of ZnO with increase in height.
VPT1 0.162 5078 5.4 -15.4 Beginning of mode and shows high K2 and high phase velocity.
VPT1 0.22 4873 6 -24 Maximum K2 value.
VPT1 1 851 1.26 -43.9 Low phase velocity is due the reduction in mode frequency of ZnO with increase in height.
VPT2 0.25–
0.36 5313–
5224 0.8 -4.3 to -9.6
Non-dispersive region, where ΔV is very small, and small variations in K2 and TCF.
Patterned- ZnO/IDT/
0.8μm- SiO2/Si (Fig.
3.11)
VPT0 0.125 2294 4.1 -7.31 Maximum K2 value.
VPT0 1 152 1.3 -37.1 Low phase velocity is due the reduction in mode frequency of ZnO with increase in height.
VPT1 0.1 5329 1.27 -2.12 Beginning of mode and low TCF.
VPT1 0.15 4829 4.24 -10.2 High K2 and good phase velocity.
VPT1 0.25 3613 4.4 -18 Maximum K2 value.
VPT1 1 1937 0.7 -41.2 Low phase velocity is due the reduction in mode frequency of ZnO with increase in height.
VPT2 0.15 5276 1 -2.21 Beginning of higher order mode.
VPT2 0.2–0.4 5228–
5002 1.2 -3.4 to
-11 Non-dispersive region, where ΔV is very small, and constant K2. VPT2 1 3148 1.7 -38.5 Lower phase velocity is due the reduction in mode frequency of ZnO with increase in height.
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Patterned- ZnO/IDT/1.6
μm-SiO2/Si (Fig. 3.11)
VPT0 0.125 2153 3.3 -6.54 Maximum K2 value.
VPT0 1 147 1.84 -35.1 Low phase velocity is due the reduction in mode frequency of ZnO with increase in height.
VPT1 0.07 5207 2.8 -2 Beginning of surface mode.
VPT1 0.12 4822 3.46 -5 High K2 and good phase velocity.
VPT1 0.25 3483 3.61 -18 Maximum K2 value.
VPT1 1 812 1.36 -41 Low phase velocity is due the reduction in mode frequency of ZnO with increase in height.
VPT2 0.1 5322 0.69 -0.5 Beginning of surface mode and low TCF.
VPT2 0.12–0.3 5192–
4993 1.26 -2 to -5 Non-dispersive region, change in phase velocity is very small, and constant K2. VPT2 1 1914 1.6 -38.4 Lower phase velocity is due the reduction in mode frequency of ZnO with increase in height.
Patterned- ZnO/IDT/2.4
μm-SiO2/Si (Fig. 3.11)
VPT0 0.025 3831 1.3 -0.1 Low TCF.
VPT0 0.15 1793 3.3 -7.3 Maximum K2 value.
VPT0 1 145 2.78 -34.1 Low phase velocity is due the reduction in mode frequency of ZnO with increase in height.
VPT1 0.05 5214 1.49 0 Zero TCF and high phase velocity.
VPT1 0.375 4749 3.62 -26.6 High K2 and good phase velocity.
VPT1 1 805 1.23 -41.2 Low phase velocity is due the reduction in mode frequency of ZnO with increase in height.
VPT2 0.1 5307 0.56 0 Beginning of VPT2 mode and zero TCF.
VPT2 0.15–0.4 4960–
4713 1.58 -3.6 to
-8.56 Non-dispersive region, where Δν is very small, and constant K2. VPT2 1 1903 1.5 -38.5 Low phase velocity is due the reduction in mode frequency of ZnO with increase in height.
Patterned- 1.6μm- ZnO/IDT/SiO
2/Si (Fig. 3.12)
VPT0 0.01 1726 3.13 -15.3 Maximum K2 value.
VPT0 0.41 1320 1 -9.4 Phase velocity is saturated at 1320 m/s as well as K2 at 1%.
VPT1 0.01 4851 6.28 -15.8 Beginning of mode, high K2 and good phase velocity.
VPT1 0.3 3900 2.5 -13.1 Both phase velocity and K2 saturates at 3900 m/s and 2.5%.
VPT2 0.03 5320 0.7 -2.8 Exhibits relative maximum velocity and low coupling coefficient.
VPT2 1 4058 1.2 -6.2 The phase velocity decreases linearly and reached 4058 m/s with a K2 value of 1.2.
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