SBIR Phase I: Single Crystal Group III-Nitride Bulk Acoustic Resonators and Bulk Acoustic Wave Filter Components for Mobile Communications

这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力，通过创新的单晶谐振器和声波滤波器解决方案的商业化，提高了消费者移动无线设备的小型化、信号质量和电池寿命。除了消费系统之外，声谐振器技术还应用于工业、医疗、网络和军事系统。到2016年，体声波（BAW）滤波器组件的全球市场预计将增长到30多亿美元，而2011年的市场规模仅为8亿美元。在信号汇聚和新分配通信频谱扩散的推动下，这种快速的市场增长为新的市场进入者创造了机会。这个小型企业创新研究第一阶段项目解决了当今射频（RF）前沿技术（如移动无线和物联网）的关键组件需求。可以说，声波滤波器已经发展成为射频前端的推动者；然而，它的性能有损。电流滤波器可以以热量的形式耗散多达一半的射频发射功率，从而迫使射频功率放大器过度设计。这增加了热管理的复杂性，并缩短了电池寿命。因此，当前滤波器技术的低效率增加了无线设备的成本和尺寸。为了满足这一关键需求，该公司提出了一种更高效、更低损耗的声学滤波技术。研究工作包括设计、仿真、材料合成以及利用实验工艺流程和新颖的电路布局制作单晶谐振器和体声波（BAW）滤波器。对所制备的谐振器进行声速、声耦合和电路质量因子的表征。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project improves miniaturization, signal quality and battery life of consumer mobile wireless devices by commercialization of innovative single crystal resonators and acoustic wave filter solutions. Beyond consumer systems, the acoustic resonator technology has applications in industrial, medical, networking and military systems. The global market for bulk acoustic wave (BAW) filter components is expected to grow to over $3B by 2016 compared to just $0.8B market in 2011. Such rapid market growth, driven by signal convergence and proliferation of new allocated communications spectrum, creates the opportunity for new market entrants. This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project addresses a critical component need in today's radio frequency (RF) frontends for technologies such as Mobile Wireless and The Internet of Things. Arguably, the acoustic wave filter has evolved as the enabler of the RF frontend; it suffers, however, from lossy performance. Current filters can dissipate, as heat, up to half of the RF transmit power thus forcing significant overdesign of the RF power amp. This increases the complexity of thermal management, and it reduces battery life. Thus the inefficiency of current filter technologies increase the cost and size of wireless devices. To address this critical need, the company proposes a more efficient, lower loss acoustic filter technology. The research effort includes design, simulation, materials synthesis and fabricated single crystal resonators and bulk acoustic wave (BAW) filters using an experimental fabrication process flow and novel circuit layout. The fabricated resonators will be characterized for acoustic velocity, acoustic coupling and circuit quality factor.