Switchable SAW Resonators and Ladder Filters Composed of Interdigitated Combs

Abstract

This work presents the development of switchable surface acoustic wave (SAW) resonators fabricated on a LiNbO3 substrate, which uses the electrical Bragg bandgap concept to control the resonance frequency. The modification of the electrical condition of electrode arrays shifts their bandgap center frequency, which in turn changes the effective cavity length and resonance frequency of the resonator. This method uses the electrodes already present in SAW devices, thus reducing the complexity of potentially tunable SAW components. In this article, the electrodes that make up the cavity mirrors are connected into interdigitated comb pairs (IDCPs), reducing the necessary number of switches for operation. Finite-element method (FEM) simulations are used to analyze resonator operation and design difficulties are discussed. Frozen (with no possibility of switching) and switchable versions of a chosen resonator structure are fabricated to experimentally showcase resonator operation. It is found that it is possible to design switchable SAW resonators, which require a single switch and present a relative frequency jump of around 2.3%. Finally, frozen single-cell and four-cell ladder filters are fabricated as a proof of concept of a switchable SAW filter.