An intermode-coupled thin-film micro-acoustic resonator

A novel concept for the development of thin-film micro-acoustic resonators based on the coupling between different plate acoustic modes is demonstrated. The basic principles for the design and fabrication of intermode-coupled plate acoustic wave resonators on c-textured thin aluminum nitride films are presented. More specifically, the lowest order symmetric S0 Lamb wave is excited and then coupled to the fundamental thickness shear bulk resonance by means of a metal strip grating with specific periodicity. The experimental results demonstrate that the grating-assisted intermode coupling can be employed in high-frequency resonators inheriting the low dispersive nature of the S0 mode in combination with the energy localization in the plate bulk typical for the fundamental thickness shear resonance. (paper)