Gigahertz Low-Loss and High Power Handling Acoustic Delay Lines Using Thin-Film Lithium-Niobate-on-Sapphire

Ruochen Lu, Yansong Yang, Ahmed E. Hassanien, Songbin Gong

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

In this work, we present the first group of gigahertz low-loss, wideband, and high power handling delay lines (ADLs) using a thin-film lithium niobate (LiNbO3)-on-sapphire platform. The ADLs leverage a single-phase unidirectional transducer (SPUDT) to efficiently excite the shear horizontal surface acoustic wave (SH-SAW) in the film stack. The fabricated miniature SH-SAW ADL at 1.1 GHz shows a low insertion loss (IL) of 2.8 dB, a wide fractional bandwidth (FBW) of 6.14%, and a fast phase velocity of 5127 m/s. The device also features a high 1-dB compression point (P1dB) of 30.4 dBm. The temperature coefficient of frequency is-45 ppm/K. ADLs with delays between 12 and 172 ns have been implemented, with IL between 2.8 and 8.3 dB. SH-SAW propagation characteristics are extracted, showing a group velocity of 4747 m/s and a propagation loss of 6.73 dB/mm or 31.9 dB/μ s. The simultaneous low-loss and high power handling illustrate the great potential of LiNbO3-on-sapphire for RF and cross domain applications at gigahertz.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number9422920
Pages (from-to)3246-3254
Number of pages9
JournalIEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques
Volume69
Issue number7
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 2021

Keywords

  • Acoustic devices
  • delay lines
  • lithium niobate
  • microelectromechanical systems
  • piezoelectric devices
  • shear horizontal surface acoustic wave (SH-SAW)
  • transversal filters

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Radiation
  • Condensed Matter Physics
  • Electrical and Electronic Engineering

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