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

这一小型企业创新研究（SBIR）第二阶段项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力将使针对移动的无线市场的单晶压电体声波（BAW）滤波器的开发和商业化成为可能，为所有智能手机和其他无线设备中使用的关键组件提供对现有多晶技术的急需改进。基于单晶压电材料的这一创新的技术优势提供了关键参数的改进，这将使智能手机的消费者受益，特别值得注意的是组件插入损耗，这将导致电池寿命增加并降低RF前端的复杂性。 此外，该技术的商业化将解决现有技术无法满足的蜂窝组件市场需求。由于现有知识产权的获取有限，现有技术普遍缺乏竞争。 在此SBIR下开发的技术将使这个不断增长的市场的新参与者。这个小型企业创新研究（SBIR）第二阶段项目将首次全面研究用于体模谐振器技术的宽带隙III族氮化物单晶材料。该技术是RF滤波器技术的基本组成部分，可满足当今RF前端的关键需求。滤波器的位置（在放大器和天线之间）和性能（由于效率低下，一半的功率损失）决定了这一需求。因此，必须对组件进行过度设计以适应滤波器损耗。过多的损耗会降低电池寿命，并导致系统中更高的热管理成本。为了满足这一需求，提出了一种具有较低损耗和显著改善的性能的更有效、较低损耗的体声波（BAW）滤波器，并且该滤波器在终端市场中提供了高回报。这项工作继续单晶压电谐振器的设计和模拟，以支持从1到6 GHz的谐振频率。压电材料合成在150毫米的硅基板上，并制成谐振器和BAW滤波器使用实验制造工艺流程和新颖的电路设计。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will be to enable the development and commercialization of single crystal piezoelectric Bulk Acoustic Wave (BAW) filters targeting the mobile wireless market, providing much needed improvements over the incumbent poly-crystalline technology in critical components used in all smartphones and other wireless devices. The technical advantage based upon this innovation in single crystal piezoelectric material provides improvements in key parameters that will benefit consumers of the smartphone, of particular note are component insertion losses which will result in increased battery life and reducing the complexity of the RF front-end. Additionally, the commercialization of this technology will address cellular component market demand not being serviced with the incumbent technology. There is a general lack of competition around the incumbent technology based on limited access to existing intellectual property. The technology developed under this SBIR will enable new participants in this growing market. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will enable the first comprehensive study of wide bandgap, group III-Nitride single crystal materials for bulk mode resonator technology. This technology is the fundamental building block of RF filter technology and addresses a critical need in today's RF frontends. The need arises from the filter's location (between amplifier and antenna) and performance (half the power is lost due to inefficiencies). As a result, components must be over-designed to accommodate for the filter loss. The excessive losses degrade battery life and drive higher thermal management costs in the system. To address this need, a more efficient, lower loss Bulk Acoustic Wave (BAW) filter with lower losses and dramatically improved performance is proposed and offers high payoff in the end market. The effort continues the design and simulation of single-crystal piezoelectric resonators to support resonant frequencies from 1 to 6 GHz. Piezoelectric materials are synthesized on 150-mm silicon substrates and fabricated into resonators and BAW filters using an experimental fabrication process flow and novel circuit designs.