Monolithic Integrated Multiband Acoustic Devices on Heterogeneous Substrate for Sub-6 GHz RF-FEMs

Abstract: Monolithic integration of multiband (1.4~ 6.0 GHz) RF acoustic devices were successfully demonstrated within the same process flow by using the lithium niobate (LN) thin film on silicon carbide (LNOSiC) substrate. A novel surface mode with sinking energy distribution was proposed, exhibiting reduced propagation loss. Surface wave and Lamb wave resonators with suppressed transverse modes and leaky modes were demonstrated, showing scalable resonances from 1.4 to 5.7 GHz, electromechanical coupling coefficients (k2) between 7.9% and 29.3%, and maximum Bode-Q (Qmax) larger than 3200. Arrayed filters with a small footprint (4.0 x 2.5 mm2) but diverse center frequencies (fc) and 3-dB fractional bandwidths (FBW) were achieved, showing fc from 1.4 to 6.0 GHz, FBW between 3.3% and 13.3%, and insertion loss (IL) between 0.59 and 2.10 dB. These results may promote the progress of hundred-filter sub-6 GHz RF front-end modules (RF-FEMs).