A micromachined vibration isolation system for reducing the vibration sensitivity of surface transverse wave resonators

A micromachined system has been developed for reducing the vibration sensitivity of surface transverse wave (STW) resonators. The isolation system consists of a support platform for mounting the STW resonator, four support arms, and a support rim. The entire isolation system measures 8 mm by 9 mm by 0.4 mm without the resonator mounted on the platform. The system acts as a passive vibration isolation system, decreasing the magnitude of high frequency (>1.2 kHz) vibrations. Finite element analysis is used to analyze the acceleration sensitivity of the mounted resonator. The isolation system is then modeled as a damped mass-spring system and the transmissibility of vibration from the support rim to the support platform is calculated. Multiplying the acceleration sensitivity of the resonator by the transmissibility results in the expected system vibration sensitivity. The isolation systems are fabricated using two sided bulk etching of (110) oriented silicon wafers. STW resonators were mounted on the isolation systems, and the isolated units were mounted on commercial hybrid oscillator substrates. Vibration sensitivity measurements were taken for vibrations with frequencies ranging from 100 Hz to 5 kHz. The measured data show that the system performs as expected with a low frequency (<500 Hz) vibration sensitivity of 1.8×10^-8/g and a high frequency roll off of 12 dB/octave     

STW gas sensors using plasma-polymerized allylamine

Gas sensors generally consist of two major components: a gas recognition element which provides the specificity and selectivity of the measurement and a physical transducer which translates the gas absorption or desorption event into electronic signal. In this paper, plasma polymerized allylamine (PPAa) film is used as a gas recognition element and a surface transverse wave (STW) device is used as a physical transducer. It is confirmed that STW sensor devices coated with PPAa films provide high sensitivity for moisture. The STW sensor device with a 63 nm PPAa film provided twenty four times higher sensitivity than that of a non-coated STW device. In addition, the chemical structure of PPAa films is characterized by the FT-IR and the contact angle measurement.     

The coupling-of-modes approach to the analysis of STW devices. II

For pt. I see ibid., vol. 44, no. 3, p. 652-7 (1997). The method for analyzing surface transverse wave (STW) devices by using a coupling-of-modes (COM) formalism has been completed, covering the STW electromechanical coupling coefficient (ECC). An ECC analytical formula has been derived by fitting numerical results from STW effective permittivity analysis. The ECC exhibits frequency and mass-loading variation. Using this new result, a satisfactory agreement with available experimental frequency characteristics of STW two-port quartz resonators has been achieved, without the necessity of additional experimental information. In its present form, the method is self-consistent and applicable to arbitrary STW layouts.     

A perturbation method for modeling the thermal sensitivity of surface transverse waves

A perturbation approach has been developed to predict the sensitivity of surface transverse waves (STW) to quasi-static temperature effects. This approach is based on the combination of unperturbed STW characteristics and thermoelastic properties of the substrate. The unperturbed STW parameters are calculated taking piezoelectricity into account. Both cases of STW propagating under shallow groove or thin metal strip gratings are studied. An analytical expression of the first order temperature coefficient is obtained in the case of grooves. A simplified calculation is proposed for thin metal strip grating devices. Results are compared to available experimental data. Possible improvements of this model are finally discussed.     

Phase-noise reduction in surface wave oscillators by using nonlinear sustaining amplifiers

Nonlinear sustaining amplifier operation has been investigated and applied to high-power negative resistance oscillators (NRO), using single-port surface transverse wave (STW) resonators, and single-transistor sustaining amplifiers for feedback-loop STW oscillators (FLSO) stabilized with two-port STW devices. In all cases, self-limiting, silicon (Si)-bipolar sustaining amplifiers that operate in the highly nonlinear AB-, B-, or C-class modes are implemented. Phase-noise reduction is based on the assumption that a sustaining amplifier, operating in one of these modes, uses current limiting and remains cut off over a significant portion of the wave period. Therefore, it does not generate 1/f noise over the cut-off portion of the radio frequency (RF) cycle, and this reduces the close-in oscillator phase noise significantly. The proposed method has been found to provide phase-noise levels in the -111 to -119 dBc/Hz range at 1 KHz carrier offset in 915 MHz C-class power NRO and FLSO generating up to 23 dBm of RF-power at RF versus dc (RF/dc) efficiencies exceeding 40%. C-class amplifier design techniques are used for adequate matching and high RF/dc efficiency.     

Coupling-of-modes analysis of STW resonators including loss mechanism

Surface transverse wave (STW) resonators exhibit substantial advantages over conventional surface acoustic wave (SAW) resonators. However, their analysis is more involved because of the complicated nature of STW. Many parameters have been studied, but the one that has been difficult to analyze accurately is the quality factor Q, which is of great importance for characterizing the devices. At present, none of the available analytical models is concerned with quantitative loss consideration, and the establishment of reliable design rules is difficult. We present a theoretical study that allows one to conduct coupling-of-modes (COM) STW loss analysis and estimate the resonator Q from material and layout parameters. The COM transmission coefficient χ₁₁ is derived by Floquet analysis. Its imaginary part is obtained by numerically fitting available experimental data for the Q-factor of particular resonators. It is a measure of STW propagation loss that adds to the electrode reflection loss     

Design and test of 3 GHz, fundamental mode surface transverse wave resonators on quartz

Surface transverse wave (STW) resonators, based on the propagation of high velocity shear horizontal waves on Y-rotated quartz were designed, fabricated and tested. A model is presented to predict the resonant frequency of a 3-grating structure as a function of design parameters such as periodicities, metal thickness, and finger-to-gap ratio. Experimental devices have been fabricated by direct e-beam lithography with linewidth geometries in the range of 0.3-0.5 mum, and an operating frequency close to 3 GHz in fundamental mode. Two different designs using either a quasi synchronous structure (type 1) or a change of periodicity inside the cavity (type 2) were tested. The best experimental factor of merit is close to the best results already published for quartz STW resonators.     

Comparing the effects of dispersed Stone-Thrower-Wales defects and double vacancies on the thermal conductivity of graphene nanoribbons

Classical molecular dynamics with the AIREBO potential is used to investigate and compare the thermal conductivity of both zigzag and armchair graphene nanoribbons possessing various densities of Stone-Thrower-Wales (STW) and double vacancy defects, within a temperature range of 100-600?K. Our results indicate that the presence of both kinds of defects can decrease the thermal conductivity by more than 80% as defect densities are increased to 10% coverage, with the decrease at high defect densities being significantly higher in zigzag compared with armchair nanoribbons. Variations of thermal conductivity in armchair nanoribbons were similar for both kinds of defects, whereas double vacancies in the zigzag nanoribbons led to more significant decreases in thermal conductivity than STW defects. The same trends are observed across the entire temperature range tested.     

Gigahertz range resonant devices for oscillator applications using shear horizontal acoustic waves

It is shown that surface transverse wave (STW) resonant devices are not only very well suited for stable oscillator applications but have some unique features offering greater design flexibility than their surface acoustic wave (SAW) counterparts. Various designs for single- and multimode resonators and resonator filters are presented, and their properties in respect to applications in stable fundamental-mode fixed-frequency and voltage-controlled oscillators in the range of 750 MHz to 2 GHz are discussed. Characteristics of SAW and STW two-port metal strip resonators using identical designs are compared. Data from frequency trimming on STW resonators, using heavy ion bombardment, are presented.     

Precision frequency trimming of SAW and STW resonators using Xe(+) heavy ion bombardment

A method for precision frequency trimming of surface acoustic wave (SAW) and surface transverse wave (STW) based resonant devices using a Xe(+) heavy ion bombardment technique is described. The devices are downtrimmed in frequency in an in-situ monitoring process by means of a Kaufmann type ion source that allows first a rough and then a fine frequency trimming with an accuracy of 1 ppm in a single continuous in-situ monitoring process. An improvement of the device insertion loss and unloaded Q as a result of the trimming process is achieved. Single mode 776 MHz STW resonators can be downtrimmed by more than 5000 ppm without deteriorating their parameters while SAW resonators allow a much lower frequency downshift. The method is simple and can cost effectively be applied to SAW and STW device fabrication.     

Theoretical and experimental mass-sensitivity analysis of polymer-coated SAW and STW resonators for gas sensing applications

Polymer-coated surface transverse waves (STW) resonators have recently been successfully studied for organic gas sensing applications. The first results indicate increased absolute and even relative sensitivity as compared to similar resonators with surface acoustic waves (SAW). However, the gain in sensitivity is accompanied by the adverse effect of an increased attenuation and the advantage frame is difficult to establish quantitatively. In this paper, a new set of experimental samples with Parylene C-coated quartz substrates are studied. The samples are matched in frequency and wavelength. The results are compared and the obtained features explained using available theoretical algorithms for analyzing layered SAW and Love configurations, and a recently developed STW algorithm. The approximate limits of advantageous applicability of the STW resonator gas sensors are discussed.     

Acceleration sensitivity of surface wave resonators

In light of the substantial performance advantages of STW over SAW in various areas, theoretical and experimental studies of the acceleration sensitivities of STW and SAW resonators have been undertaken. The purpose of the studios has been to understand the fundamental nature of STW and SAW acceleration sensitivities, and to determine whether the performance advantages of STW seen in other areas extend to the case of acceleration sensitivity. The basic approach utilizes the perturbation theory developed by Tiersten to calculate the acceleration sensitivities of both STW and SAW resonators. The acceleration-induced bias is conveniently written in terms of acceleration-induced deformation gradients and factored elastic stiffness expressions. This representation clarifies important concepts regarding the frequency shift and the involved elastic constants, and provides the designer with insight into the basic nature of the problem. The dependencies of the normal acceleration sensitivities on substrate and mode shape parameters and the fundamental nature of plate flexure are discussed at length. The calculations compare favorably to recent experimental results     

Injection locking techniques for a 1-GHz digital receiver using acoustic-wave devices

The use of surface-transverse-wave (STW) resonator-based oscillators as amplifiers and as carrier recovery elements is discussed. It is demonstrated that these oscillators can amplify phase-shift-keyed signals with very little added noise, while providing a constant output power. Their performance in carrier recovery amplifications is analyzed. Experimental results showing the amplification with more than 80 dB of dynamic range of a 2 Mb/s BPSK signal and the carrier recovery of an 8 Mb/s signal with a 1-GHz STW oscillator are shown.     

Gas sensitivity comparison of polymer coated SAW and STW resonators operating at the same acoustic wave length

Results from systematic gas sensing experiments on polymer coated surface-transverse-wave (STW) and surface-acoustic-wave (SAW) based two-port resonators on rotated Y-cut quartz, operating at the same acoustic wavelength of 7.22 /spl mu/m, are presented. The acoustic devices are coated with chemosensitive films of different viscoelastic properties and thicknesses, such as solid hexamethyldisiloxane (HMDSO), semisolid styrene (ST), and soft allyl alcohol (AA). The sensor sensitivities to vapors of different chemical analytes are automatically measured in a sensor head, evaluated, and compared. It is shown that thin HMDSO- and ST-coated STW sensors are up to 3.8 times more sensitive than their SAW counterparts, while SAW devices coated with thick soft AA-films are up to 3.6 times more sensitive than the STW ones. This implies that SAWs are more suitable for operation with soft coatings while STWs perform better with solid and semisolid films. A close-to-carrier phase noise evaluation shows that the vapor flow homogeneity, the analyte concentration, its sorption dynamics, and the sensor oscillator design are the major limiting factors for the sensor noise and its resolution. A well designed ST-coated 700 MHz STW sensor provides a 178 kHz sensor signal at a 630 ppm concentration of tetra-chloroethylene and demonstrates short-term stability of 3/spl times/10/sup -9//s which results in a sensor resolution of about 7 parts per billion (ppb).     

A coupling-of-modes approach to the analysis of STW devices

The dispersion characteristics of surface transverse waves (STW) on 36° rotated Y-cut quartz have been analyzed numerically. A closed form dispersion relation has been derived and introduced in the equations of the coupling-of-modes (COM) theory to account for the variation of energy trapping with frequency. The transmission and reflection coefficients at the finger edges have been determined from the stopband characteristics. Through the introduction of an electromechanical coupling which varies linearly with the electrode mass loading, quantitative agreement with experimental results on two different types of two-port STW resonators has been achieved, and characteristic features have been explained     

Extremely low thermal noise floor, high power oscillators usingsurface transverse wave devices

This paper presents state-of-the-art results on 1-GHz surface transverse wave (STW) oscillators running at extremely high loop power levels. The high-Q single-mode STW resonators used in these designs have an insertion loss of 3.6 dB, an unloaded Q of 8000, a residual PM noise of -142 dBc/Hz at a 1-Hz carrier offset, and operate at an incident power of up to +31 dBm in the loop. Other low-Q STW resonators and coupled resonator filters (CRF), with insertion losses in the 5-9 dB range, can conveniently handle power levels in excess of two Watts. These devices were incorporated into voltage controlled oscillators (VCO's) running from a 9.6-V dc source and provide an RF output power of +23 dBm at an RF/dc efficiency of 28%. Their tuning range was 750 kHz and the PM noise floor was -180 dBc/Hz. The oscillators, stabilized with the high-Q devices and using specially designed AB-class power amplifiers, delivered an output power of +29 dBm and exhibited a PM noise floor of -184 dBc/Hz and a 1-Hz phase noise level of -17 dBc/Hz. The 1-Hz phase noise level was improved to -33 dBc/Hz using a commercially available loop amplifier. In this case, the output power was +22 dBm. In all cases studied, the loop amplifier was found to be the factor limiting the close-to-carrier oscillator phase noise performance     

STW in-line acoustically coupled resonator filter on quartz

The scattering-matrix method was used for design of a surface transverse wave (STW) in-line acoustically coupled resonator filter on quartz. In this filter, two one-port STW resonators were coupled by means of a center reflector, grating phase shifters were placed between interdigital transducers and reflectors, and the pass band of the filter was located near the center frequency of the reflectors. At a frequency of about 509 MHz, insertion loss of about 5 dB and a 3 dB bandwidth of about 0.23 MHz was obtained. Differences between the measured and calculated amplitude responses are explained and design guidelines are presented. High STW velocity, low insertion loss, and very weak transverse mode make this filter attractive for high-frequency applications.     

Scattering matrix approach to STW resonators

The scattering matrix method was used for the analysis of surface transverse wave (STW) resonators on quartz. An expression for the transfer function of the resonators with different numbers of electrodes in the reflectors was derived. It was found that, for a proper ratio of these numbers, the spurious signal level below the resonance frequency can be lowered. The STW resonator for the frequency near 1090 MHz was designed, fabricated, and measured. By matching the measured and calculated transfer functions, the velocity, the electromechanical coupling coefficient, and the reflection coefficient of one aluminium strip of the STW on the 36°Y-cut quartz were determined. The insertion loss about 7 dB, loaded quality coefficient near 4200, and the spurious signal level about 5 dB lower compared with the resonance one were obtained for the resonator     

Surface transverse waves exceed the material Q limit for surfaceacoustic waves on quartz

State-of-the-art 1.244-GHz surface transverse wave (STW) resonators on AT-cut quartz are characterized. They demonstrate an unloaded Q of 8144 which is as high as 97% of the material Q limit for surface acoustic waves (SAWs). By analyzing the measured data and accounting for the ohmic loss, it is shown that the material Q for STWs on quartz, experimentally obtained from these devices, is at least 37% higher than the material Q for SAWs     

Accurate measurement of anhydride fluorhydric acid concentration in controlled gaseous flow with STW sensors

This paper presents theoretical and experimental developments for the implementation of surface acoustic waves (SAW) sensors able to detect small concentrations of anhydride fluorhydric (HF) acid in air. Solutions based on the use of surface transverse waves (STW) on quartz (YXlt)/36 degrees/90 degrees have been analyzed to evaluate their sensitivity to HF. Devices have been tested first in a NH4F solution to evaluate the kinetics of the reaction. Measurements then were performed under various gaseous conditions to characterize the sensors when they are submitted to different controlled dilutions of HF in air. STW resonators have been successfully tested in different conditions, with capabilities to detect HF concentration much smaller than 1 ppm.