Radio Frequency Piezoelectric MEMS Resonators

Speaker:     Dr. Anming Gao

Time:        15:00-16:00, Jan. 16

Location:    SIST 2-202A

Host:         Prof. Tao Wu

Abstract:

Radio frequency (RF) microelectromechanical system (MEMS) resonators employing Lamb waves propagating in piezoelectric thin films have recently attracted much attention since they combine the advantages of the bulk acoustic wave (BAW) and surface acoustic wave (SAW) technologies: high phase velocity and multiple frequencies on a single chip. In particular, aluminum nitride (AlN) resonators based on fundamental symmetric (S0) Lamb mode have shown great promise because they can offer high phase velocities (10,000 m/s), low dispersive phase velocity characteristic, small temperature-induced frequency drift, low motional resistance, and monolithic integration compatibility with complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS).

However, there are still a few outstanding technical challenges, including spurious modes suppression, quality factor (Q) enhancement, frequency scalability, and electromechanical coupling improvement. These issues obstruct the wide deployment and commercialization of AlN Lamb wave resonators.

This talk presents comprehensive overview of the design and fabrication of the AlN Lamb wave resonators and the solutions to these main issues.

Bio: 

Anming Gao, Ph.D., senior electrical engineer of Skyworks Solutions, Inc., CA, USA. He received his M.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from Shanghai Jiao Tong University in 2013 and Ph. D. degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2018. After graduation, Dr. Anming Gao joined Skyworks Solutions Inc. and focused on the research and design of RF SAW resonators and SAW filters. More specifically, he is exploring the spurious mode suppression, Q enhancement (or insertion loss reduction), and new resonant modes of SAW resonators/filters.

His doctoral research is on the optimization and design of piezoelectric MEMS resonators and filters. He is also interested in exploring and developing novel micromachining processes to enable high performance MEMS devices. Dr. Anming Gao has developed AlN Lamb wave resonators with the highest Q (4600) and highest FoM (82.8) among all reported ones. He has authored or co-authored about 45 papers in IEEE trans. MTT, IEEE JMEMS, IEEE MWCL, IEEE trans. UFFC, Optics Express, IEEE conferences of MEMS, IFCS, IMS, IUS. Dr. Anming Gao received the Lam Research Corporation outstanding graduate student award and the Nick and Katherine Holonyak, Jr Fellowship.

SIST-Seminar 18127