High Q, high frequency, high overtone bulk acoustic resonator with ZnO films

Bulk acoustic wave resonators with piezoelectric films have been widely explored for the small size and high quality factor (Q) at GHz. This paper describes a high overtone bulk acoustic resonator (HBAR) based on Al/ZnO/Al sandwich layers and c-axis sapphire substrate. ZnO film with high quality c-axis orientation has been obtained using DC magnetron sputtering. The fabricated HBAR presents high Q at the multiple resonances from a 0.5–4.0 GHz wide band with a total size (including the contact pads) of 0.6 mm×0.3 mm×0.4 mm. The device exhibits the best acoustic coupling at around 2.4 GHz, which agrees with the simulation results based on the one-dimensional Mason equivalent circuit model. The HBAR also demonstrates Q values of 30 000, 25 000, and 6500 at 1.49, 2.43, and 3.40 GHz, respectively. It is indicated that the HBAR has potential applications for the low phase noise high frequency oscillator or microwave signal source.