JP4730383B2 - Thin film acoustic resonator and manufacturing method thereof - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a thin film acoustic resonator using the electroacoustic effect of a piezoelectric thin film, and more particularly to a thin film acoustic resonator that can be used as a component of a filter for a communication device and a method for manufacturing the same.

  In addition, the present invention uses piezoelectric thin films used in a wide range of fields such as thin film vibrators, thin film VCOs (voltage controlled oscillators), thin film filters, transmission / reception switchers and various sensors used in mobile communication devices and the like. Relates to the device.

  Because of the need to reduce the cost and size of electronic equipment, attempts to reduce the size of the filter as its circuit component have continued. Consumer electronic devices such as cellular telephones and miniature radios have severe demands regarding both the size and cost of the components built in. Circuits included in these electronic devices utilize filters that must be tuned to a precise frequency. Thus, efforts to provide inexpensive and compact filters are continually continued.

  In addition, elements utilizing the piezoelectric phenomenon are used in a wide range of fields. As miniaturization and low power consumption of portable devices such as cellular phones progress, use of surface acoustic wave (SAW) elements as RF filters and IF filters used in the devices is expanding. This SAW filter has been able to meet the strict requirements of users by improving the design and production technology. However, as the frequency of use increases, the characteristics are approaching the limit of improvement. On the other hand, great technological innovation is needed.

  On the other hand, a thin film acoustic resonator using a thickness vibration of a piezoelectric thin film, that is, a thin film bulk acoustic resonator or a thin film bulk acoustic resonator (Thin Film Bulk Acoustic Resonators or Film Bulk Acoustic Resonators: hereinafter referred to as FBAR) is provided on a substrate. A thin film mainly made of a piezoelectric material and an electrode for driving the thin film are formed on a thin support film, and fundamental resonance in the gigahertz band is possible. If the filter is configured with FBAR, it can be remarkably miniaturized, and can be integrated with a semiconductor integrated circuit in addition to being capable of low-loss and wideband operation, and is expected to be applied to future ultra-compact portable devices. Yes.

  In one simple configuration of the thin film acoustic resonator, a sandwich structure is formed in which a layer of piezoelectric (PZ) thin film material is sandwiched between two metal electrodes. This sandwiching structure is supported by a bridge structure in which the peripheral part is supported and the central part is suspended in the air. When an electric field is generated by the voltage applied between the two electrodes, the piezoelectric (PZ) thin film material converts some of the electrical energy into mechanical energy in the form of sound waves. Sound waves propagate in the same direction as the electric field and are reflected at the electrode / air interface. Hereinafter, the piezoelectric body may be abbreviated as PZ.

  When mechanically resonating, the thin film acoustic resonator acts as an electrical resonator due to the electrical energy / mechanical energy conversion function of the PZ thin film material. Therefore, a filter can be configured using this. The mechanical resonance of the thin film acoustic resonator occurs at a frequency at which the thickness of the material through which the sound wave propagates is equal to the half wavelength of the sound wave. The frequency of the sound wave is equal to the frequency of the electrical signal applied to the electrode. Since the speed of sound waves is 5 to 6 orders of magnitude smaller than the speed of light, the resulting resonator can be made very compact. Therefore, a resonator for use in the GHz band can be configured with a structure having a planar dimension of less than 200 microns and a thickness of less than several microns.

  In the laminated thin film acoustic resonator in which the above thin film acoustic resonator and the above sandwiched structure are stacked, that is, a stacked thin film bulk acoustic resonator and a filter (Stacked Thin Film Acoustic Resonator Filters: hereinafter referred to as SBAR). The central part is a piezoelectric thin film having a thickness of about 1 to 2 microns, produced by sputtering. The upper and lower electrodes serve as electrical leads, and provide an electric field through the piezoelectric thin film with the piezoelectric thin film interposed therebetween. The piezoelectric thin film converts part of the electric field energy into mechanical energy. In response to time-varying applied electric field energy, time-varying “stress / strain” energy is formed.

  A piezoelectric thin film element applied to a resonator, a filter or the like using such an elastic wave is manufactured as follows. Dielectric thin films and conductive films can be formed on the surface of a semiconductor single crystal substrate such as silicon, or a substrate formed by forming a film of a constant elastic metal such as polycrystalline diamond or Elinvar on a silicon wafer or the like by various thin film forming methods. A base film made of a thin body film or a laminated film thereof is formed. A piezoelectric thin film is formed on the base film, and an upper structure is formed if necessary. After each film is formed or after all the films are formed, each film is subjected to physical processing or chemical processing to perform fine processing or patterning.

  In order to operate an FBAR or SBAR as a thin film acoustic resonator, an sandwich structure including a piezoelectric thin film must be supported by a bridge structure to form an air / crystal interface for trapping sound waves in the sandwich structure. . The sandwiching structure is usually made by depositing a lower electrode (lower electrode), a piezoelectric layer (piezoelectric film, piezoelectric thin film layer), and an upper electrode (upper electrode) in this order on the substrate surface. Therefore, an air / crystal interface already exists above the sandwich structure. An air / crystal interface must also be provided on the underside of the sandwich structure. In order to obtain the air / crystal interface below the sandwich structure, several methods as described below have been conventionally used.

  The first method is, for example, as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 58-153212 (Patent Document 1) and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 60-142607 (Patent Document 2). If the substrate is made of silicon, a portion of the silicon substrate is etched away from the back side using a heated KOH aqueous solution to form a hole. After the base film, the lower electrode, the piezoelectric thin film, and the upper electrode are formed on the upper surface of the substrate, the substrate portion under the portion that becomes the vibrating portion is removed from the lower surface of the substrate. Thus, a resonator having a configuration in which the edge of the sandwich structure is supported by the portion around the hole on the front surface side of the silicon substrate is obtained. However, such holes drilled through the wafer make the wafer very delicate and very fragile. Further, when wet etching using KOH is performed with an etching inclination of 54.7 degrees with respect to the substrate surface, it is difficult to improve the acquisition amount of the final product, that is, the yield of FBAR / SBAR on the wafer. For example, a sandwich structure having a lateral dimension (planar dimension) of about 150 μm × 150 μm configured on a 250 μm thick silicon wafer requires a backside etching hole opening of about 450 μm × 450 μm. Therefore, only about 1/9 of the wafer can be used for production. After forming a floating structure by removing the portion located below the vibrating portion of the piezoelectric thin film from the substrate by anisotropic etching, the thin film acoustic resonator (which is a piezoelectric thin film element) is separated for each element unit (this is piezoelectric) (Also called a thin film resonator).

  A second conventional method for providing an air / crystal interface under the sandwich structure is to make an air bridge type FBAR element as described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-13109 (Patent Document 3). Usually, a sacrificial layer is first installed, and then a sandwich structure is formed on the sacrificial layer. Remove the sacrificial layer at or near the end of the process. Since all processing takes place on the front side of the wafer, this method does not require alignment on either side of the wafer or a large area backside opening.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-69594 (Patent Document 4) describes the structure and manufacturing method of an air bridge type FBAR / SBAR using quartz phosphate glass (PSG) as a sacrificial layer. In the publication, a PSG layer is deposited on a silicon wafer. PSG is deposited using silane and P ₂ O ₅ at temperatures up to about 450 ° C. to form a soft glass-like material with a phosphorus content of about 8%. PSG can be deposited at a relatively low temperature and is etched at a very high rate with dilute H ₂ O: HF solution.

  However, in this publication, although the RMS (root mean square) variation of the height indicating the surface roughness of the PSG sacrificial layer is described as less than 0.5 μm, specifically, it is of the order of less than 0.1 μm. There is no specific description of RMS variation. This RMS fluctuation of the order of 0.1 μm is a very rough unevenness from the atomic level. An FBAR / SBAR type thin film acoustic resonator requires a piezoelectric material in which a crystal grows in a columnar crystal perpendicular to an electrode plane. In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-69594, a conductive sheet parallel to the surface of the PSG layer is formed, and the RMS variation of the height of the conductive sheet is described as less than 2 μm. There is no specific description of smaller order RMS fluctuations. This RMS fluctuation of the order of 0.1 μm is a surface roughness that is insufficient as a surface for forming a piezoelectric thin film for a thin film acoustic resonator. Attempts were made to grow a piezoelectric thin film, but crystals grew in various directions under the influence of numerous irregularities on the rough surface, so the crystal quality of the obtained piezoelectric thin film was not always sufficient.

  There is also a method of providing an appropriate solid acoustic mirror instead of providing the air / crystal interface as described above. In this method, for example, as described in JP-A-6-295181 (Patent Document 5), a large acoustic impedance composed of an acoustic Bragg reflector is created under the sandwiching structure. Bragg reflectors are made by alternating layers of high and low acoustic impedance materials. The thickness of each layer is fixed to 1/4 of the wavelength of the resonance frequency. With a sufficient number of layers, the effective impedance at the piezoelectric / electrode interface can be made much higher than the acoustic impedance of the element, thus effectively confining acoustic waves within the piezoelectric. The acoustic resonator obtained by this method is called a solid acoustic mirror mounted resonator (SMR) because there is no air gap under the sandwich structure.

  Although this method avoids the problems of the first method and the second method described above, in which the peripheral part is fixed and the center part can freely vibrate, this method also has many problems. . That is, since the metal layer forms a parasitic capacitor that degrades the electrical performance of the filter and cannot be used for the Bragg reflector layer, there are limitations on the selection of materials used for the Bragg reflector. The difference in acoustic impedance of layers made from available materials is not great. Therefore, multiple layers are required to confine sound waves. This method complicates the fabrication process because the stress on each layer must be precisely controlled. Also, since it is difficult to make vias through many layers such as 10 to 14, the acoustic resonator obtained by this method is inconvenient for integration with other active elements. Furthermore, in the examples reported so far, the acoustic resonator obtained by this method has a much lower effective coupling coefficient than an acoustic resonator with an air bridge. As a result, the filter based on SMR has a narrower effective bandwidth than that using an air bridge type acoustic resonator.

  By the way, as described above, in the thin film acoustic resonator, “stress / strain” energy that changes with time is formed in the sandwich structure in response to the applied electric field energy that changes with time. Therefore, when the adhesion between the substrate and the lower electrode of the sandwich structure is low, the substrate and the sandwich structure are peeled off to reduce the durability, that is, the life of the thin film acoustic resonator is shortened.

  In the above Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2000-69594 and the like, Mo is described as a suitable electrode material, but there is no specific description regarding further improvement in adhesion to a silicon wafer or the like as a substrate.

  Further, for example, JP-A-2-309708 (Patent Document 6) describes that a lower electrode layer made of two layers such as Au / Ti is used. In this case, the Ti layer exists as a layer that improves the adhesion between the Au layer and the substrate. That is, this Ti adhesion layer is not an indispensable electrode layer from the viewpoint of the original operation of the thin film acoustic resonator, but when the Au electrode layer is formed alone without forming the Ti adhesion layer, the substrate and the Au The adhesion between the electrode layers becomes poor, and the durability during operation of the thin-film acoustic resonator is remarkably impaired by the occurrence of peeling or the like.

In the above thin film acoustic resonator, in addition to the required longitudinal vibration propagating in the direction perpendicular to the electrode surface, there is also lateral vibration propagating in a direction parallel to the electrode surface. Some of them degrade the characteristics of the resonator by exciting spurious vibrations to the required vibration of the thin film acoustic resonator.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 58-15312 JP 60-142607 A Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-13109 JP 2000-69594 A JP-A-6-295181 JP-A-2-309708

  It is an object of the present invention to provide an FBAR / SBAR with improved performance.

  Another object of the present invention is to provide a high performance FBAR / SBAR excellent in electromechanical coupling coefficient, acoustic quality factor (Q value), temperature characteristics, etc. by improving the crystal quality of the piezoelectric (PZ) thin film. It is to be.

  Still another object of the present invention is to provide a high-performance FBAR / SBAR excellent in electromechanical coupling coefficient, acoustic quality factor (Q value), temperature characteristics, etc. by devising the shape of the upper electrode. .

  Another object of the present invention is to provide an FBAR / SBAR in which spurious excitation is particularly reduced.

  Another object of the present invention is to improve the durability of FBAR / SBAR and improve the life by improving the adhesion (bonding strength) between the lower electrode layer and the substrate.

  A further object of the present invention is to improve the adhesion between the lower electrode layer and the substrate and to form a piezoelectric thin film with good crystal quality and orientation on the lower electrode layer. It is to provide a high-performance FBAR / SBAR excellent in a coupling coefficient, an acoustic quality factor (Q value), and the like.

The piezoelectric material for the piezoelectric thin film element includes aluminum nitride (AlN), zinc oxide (ZnO), cadmium sulfide (CdS), lead titanate [PT] (PbTiO ₃ ), lead zirconate titanate [PZT] ( Pb (Zr, Ti) O ₃ ) or the like is used. In particular, AlN has a high propagation speed of elastic waves and is suitable as a piezoelectric material for a thin film acoustic resonator or a piezoelectric thin film resonator operating in a high frequency band.

  Since FBAR obtains resonance by propagation of elastic waves in the thin film, not only the vibration characteristics of the piezoelectric thin film but also the vibration characteristics of the electrode layer and the base film greatly affect the resonance characteristics of the FBAR. Until now, various studies have been made to apply an AlN thin film to an FBAR. However, a thin film acoustic resonator and a thin film filter that exhibit sufficient performance in the gigahertz band have not yet been obtained. Therefore, a piezoelectric thin film resonator, ie, a thin film acoustic resonator excellent in temperature stability of an electromechanical coupling coefficient, an acoustic quality factor, and a resonance frequency of a vibration part including not only an AlN thin film but also an electrode layer and a base film. Realization of is strongly desired.

  Accordingly, the present invention provides a piezoelectric thin film resonator that improves the temperature stability of the resonance frequency without impairing the electromechanical coupling coefficient and the acoustic quality factor, while taking advantage of the characteristics of the AlN thin film that the propagation speed of elastic waves is high. That is, an object is to provide a thin film acoustic resonator.

According to the present invention, the object as described above is achieved.
A piezoelectric layer, a first electrode bonded to the first surface of the piezoelectric layer, and a second electrode bonded to the second surface opposite to the first surface of the piezoelectric layer And the first surface of the piezoelectric layer has a RMS fluctuation in height of 25 nm or less, preferably 20 nm or less,
Is provided.

  In the present invention, the RMS fluctuation of the height is the root mean square roughness described in Japanese Industrial Standard JIS B0601: 2001 “Product Geometric Specification (GPS) —Surface Property: Contour Curve Method—Terminology, Definition, and Surface Property Parameter”. S: Rq (the same applies to the invention described below).

In addition, according to the present invention, the object as described above is achieved.
A piezoelectric layer, a first electrode bonded to the first surface of the piezoelectric layer, and a second electrode bonded to the second surface opposite to the first surface of the piezoelectric layer And the surface of the first electrode on the piezoelectric layer side of the first electrode has a RMS fluctuation in height of 25 nm or less, preferably 20 nm or less,
Is provided.

  In one aspect of the present invention, the second surface of the piezoelectric layer has an RMS fluctuation in height of 5% or less of the thickness of the piezoelectric layer. In one aspect of the present invention, the undulation height of the surface of the second electrode is 25% or less of the thickness of the piezoelectric layer.

  In one embodiment of the present invention, the second electrode has a central portion and an outer peripheral portion thicker than the central portion. In one aspect of the present invention, the outer peripheral portion is positioned in a frame shape around the central portion. In one embodiment of the present invention, the thickness variation of the central portion of the second electrode is 1% or less of the thickness of the central portion. In one aspect of the present invention, the thickness of the outer peripheral portion is 1.1 times or more the height of the central portion. In one aspect of the present invention, the outer peripheral portion is located within a distance range of 40 μm from the outer edge of the second electrode. In one aspect of the present invention, the waviness height of the surface of the central portion is 25% or less of the thickness of the piezoelectric layer.

  In one aspect of the present invention, the sandwiched structure including the piezoelectric layer, the first electrode, and the second electrode has an edge formed by the substrate so as to straddle a depression formed on the surface of the substrate. It is supported. In one embodiment of the present invention, an insulator layer formed so as to straddle the depression is disposed on the surface of the substrate, and the sandwich structure is formed on the insulator layer.

Furthermore, according to the present invention, the object as described above is achieved.
A piezoelectric layer, a first electrode bonded to the first surface of the piezoelectric layer, and a second electrode bonded to the second surface opposite to the first surface of the piezoelectric layer A method of manufacturing a thin film acoustic resonator having:
A recess is formed on the surface of the substrate, a sacrificial layer is filled in the recess, and the surface of the sacrificial layer is polished so that the RMS fluctuation in height is 25 nm or less, preferably 20 nm or less, and the surface of the sacrificial layer The first electrode is formed on a part of the substrate and a part of the surface of the substrate, the piezoelectric layer is formed on the first electrode, and the piezoelectric layer is formed on the piezoelectric layer. Forming the second electrode, and etching away the sacrificial layer from within the recess, A method of manufacturing a thin-film acoustic resonator,
Is provided.

  In one embodiment of the present invention, the first electrode is formed with a thickness of 150 nm or less, and the RMS fluctuation of the height of the upper surface of the first electrode is 25 nm or less, preferably 20 nm or less.

  In one embodiment of the present invention, an insulator layer is formed on the sacrificial layer prior to forming the first electrode.

Next, according to the present invention, the object as described above is achieved.
A sandwiching structure formed by laminating a substrate and a piezoelectric thin film layer (piezoelectric layer) between the substrate and the lower electrode layer on the substrate side and the upper electrode layer paired with the substrate; A thin film acoustic resonator comprising:
The sandwich structure further includes a contact electrode layer positioned between the lower electrode layer and the substrate and joined to the lower electrode layer, and the contact electrode layer is formed on the substrate. A thin film acoustic resonator, wherein the thin film acoustic resonator is bonded to the substrate around a recess formed to allow vibration;
Is provided.

  In one aspect of the present invention, the contact electrode layer is formed in an annular shape, and the plane area of the portion of the contact electrode layer in contact with the lower electrode layer is S1, and the plane area of the lower electrode layer is S2. In this case, a relationship of 0.01 × S2 ≦ S1 ≦ 0.5 × S2 is established, and the upper electrode layer is located in a region corresponding to the inner side of the contact electrode layer.

  In one aspect of the present invention, the contact electrode layer is made of a material containing at least one selected from Ti, Cr, Ni, and Ta, and the lower electrode layer is at least selected from Au, Pt, W, and Mo. The piezoelectric thin film layer is made of AlN or ZnO.

In addition, according to the present invention, the object as described above is achieved.
Forming a contact electrode layer around the recess on the surface of the substrate where the recess is formed, forming a sacrificial layer on the surface of the substrate in a region corresponding to the recess inside the contact electrode layer, The surface of the sacrificial layer is polished and smoothed so that the RMS fluctuation in height is 25 nm or less, preferably 20 nm or less, and the lower electrode layer, the piezoelectric thin film layer, and the upper electrode are formed on the sacrificial layer and the contact electrode layer. A method of manufacturing a thin-film acoustic resonator, wherein the layers are sequentially formed and then the sacrificial layer is removed;
Is provided.

  In one embodiment of the present invention, the sacrificial layer is formed by first forming a layer of a sacrificial layer material so as to cover the substrate and the adhesive electrode layer, and then forming the layer of the sacrificial layer material on the surface of the adhesive electrode layer The sacrificial layer is removed by etching, and glass or plastic is used as the sacrificial layer.

The inventors of the present invention have found that molybdenum (Mo) has a large modulus of elasticity on both sides of a piezoelectric thin film mainly composed of AlN compared to general electrode materials such as gold, platinum, aluminum, and copper, and a remarkably small thermoelastic loss. ), And silicon oxide (SiO ₂ ) or silicon nitride (Si ₃ N ₄ ) having a temperature coefficient with a different sign from the temperature coefficient of the resonance frequency of the piezoelectric thin film. It has been found that by forming the insulating layer to be included in the vibration part, the temperature stability of the resonance frequency can be improved while maintaining a high electromechanical coupling coefficient and a high acoustic quality factor, and the present invention has been achieved. . Furthermore, the thickness of the piezoelectric thin film mainly composed of aluminum nitride is t, and the thickness of the insulating layer mainly composed of silicon oxide or silicon nitride (when there are a plurality of insulating layers, the total thickness thereof) ) Is t ′, the thickness of each layer is set so as to satisfy 0.1 ≦ t ′ / t ≦ 0.5, preferably 0.2 ≦ t ′ / t ≦ 0.4. It has been found that a high-performance FBAR having a coupling coefficient and a high acoustic quality factor and having extremely good temperature stability can be realized.

That is, according to the present invention, the above object is achieved as follows:
A piezoelectric laminate structure formed on the substrate, and a vibrating portion is configured to include a part of the piezoelectric laminate structure. Electrode), a piezoelectric film (piezoelectric layer), and an upper electrode (upper electrode) are laminated in this order from the substrate side, and the substrate has an area corresponding to the vibrating portion. In the piezoelectric thin film resonator forming a gap that allows vibration,
The piezoelectric film has aluminum nitride as a main component, the lower electrode and the upper electrode have molybdenum as a main component, and the vibrating portion is at least one layer bonded to the piezoelectric multilayer structure. A piezoelectric thin film resonator comprising at least a part of an insulating layer mainly composed of silicon oxide or silicon nitride,
Is provided. In the present specification, the term “piezoelectric thin film resonator” is synonymous with the term “thin film acoustic resonator”.

  In one aspect of the present invention, the thickness t of the piezoelectric film and the total thickness t ′ of the at least one insulating layer satisfy a relationship of 0.1 ≦ t ′ / t ≦ 0.5.

  In one aspect of the present invention, the piezoelectric film has a content of the aluminum nitride of 90 equivalent% or more. In one embodiment of the present invention, the insulating layer has a content of the silicon oxide or silicon nitride of 50 equivalent% (mol%) or more. In one embodiment of the present invention, the lower electrode and the upper electrode have a molybdenum content of 80 equivalent% (mol%) or more.

  In one aspect of the present invention, one of the insulating layers is formed on the surface of the substrate. In one aspect of the present invention, one of the insulating layers is formed on the surface of the piezoelectric multilayer structure opposite to the substrate.

  In one aspect of the present invention, the substrate is made of a silicon single crystal. In one aspect of the present invention, the upper electrode includes a first electrode portion and a second electrode portion that are formed apart from each other.

  In one embodiment of the present invention, the electromechanical coupling coefficient obtained from the measured values of the resonance frequency and antiresonance frequency in the vicinity of 2.0 GHz is 4.0 to 6.5%, and the acoustic quality factor is 750 to 2000. Yes, the temperature coefficient of the resonance frequency is -20 to 20 ppm / ° C.

  Furthermore, according to the present invention, there are provided a VCO (voltage controlled oscillator), a filter, and a transmission / reception switch configured by using the piezoelectric thin film resonator as described above, in which characteristics at a high frequency of 1 GHz or more are remarkably exhibited. Can be improved.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 are schematic cross-sectional views for explaining the basic configuration of FBAR and SBAR, which are thin film acoustic resonators according to the present invention, respectively.

  In FIG. 1, the FBAR 20 includes an upper electrode 21 and a lower electrode 23, which form a sandwich structure by sandwiching a part of a layer 22 of a piezoelectric (PZ) material. The preferred PZ material is aluminum nitride (AlN) or zinc oxide (ZnO). The electrodes 21, 23 used in the FBAR 20 are preferably made from molybdenum, but other materials can be used.

  This element utilizes the action of bulk acoustic waves in the thin film PZ material. When an electric field is generated between the two electrodes 21 and 23 by the applied voltage, the PZ material converts a part of the electric energy into mechanical energy in the form of sound waves. Sound waves propagate in the same direction as the electric field and are reflected at the electrode / air interface.

  When mechanically resonating, the acoustic resonator acts as an electrical resonator due to the electrical energy / mechanical energy conversion function of the PZ material. Therefore, the element can operate as a notch filter. The mechanical resonance of the element occurs at a frequency at which the thickness of the material through which the sound wave propagates is equal to the half wavelength of the sound wave. The frequency of the sound wave is the frequency of an electric signal applied between the electrodes 21 and 23. Since the speed of sound is 5 to 6 orders of magnitude less than the speed of light, the resulting resonator can be made very compact. Resonators for GHz band applications can be constructed with a planar dimension on the order of about 100 μm and a thickness of several μm.

  Next, SBAR will be described with reference to FIG. SBAR 40 provides an electrical function similar to a bandpass filter. The SBAR 40 is basically two FBAR filters that are mechanically coupled. A signal that traverses the electrodes 43 and 44 at the resonant frequency of the piezoelectric layer 41 transmits acoustic energy to the piezoelectric layer 42. Mechanical vibrations in the piezoelectric layer 42 are converted into electrical signals that traverse the electrodes 44 and 45.

  3 to 8 are schematic cross-sectional views (FIGS. 3 to 6 and FIG. 8) for explaining an embodiment of the FBAR which is a thin film acoustic resonator according to the present invention and the FBAR obtained thereby. FIG. 8 is a schematic plan view (FIG. 7).

  First, as shown in FIG. 3, a recess is formed by etching in a normal silicon wafer 51 used for integrated circuit fabrication. The depth of the depression is preferably 1.5 to 30 μm, more preferably 1.5 to 10 μm, or in some cases 3 to 30 μm. Considering that the cavity under the FBAR sandwiching structure only needs to allow the displacement caused by the piezoelectric layer, it is sufficient that the cavity has a depth of several μm.

  A thin layer 53 of silicon oxide is formed on the surface of the wafer 51 by thermal oxidation, thereby preventing phosphorus from diffusing into the wafer 51 from the PSG which is a sacrificial layer formed thereon. As the thin layer 53, a silicon nitride layer formed by a low pressure CVD method may be used instead of the silicon oxide layer. By suppressing the diffusion of phosphorus into the wafer in this way, the silicon wafer is prevented from being converted into a conductor, and adverse effects on the electrical operation of the fabricated device can be eliminated. A substrate in which a thin layer 53 of silicon oxide or silicon nitride is formed on the surface of the wafer 51 as described above is used as a substrate. That is, FIG. 3 shows a state in which a recess 52 having a depth of preferably 1.5 to 30 μm, more preferably 1.5 to 10 μm or even 3 to 30 μm is formed on the surface of the substrate.

Next, as shown in FIG. 4, a quartz phosphate glass (PSG) layer 55 is deposited on the thin layer 53 of silicon oxide or silicon nitride of the substrate. PSG is deposited at temperatures up to about 450 ° C. using silane and P ₂ O ₅ source materials as raw materials to form a soft glass-like material with a phosphorus content of about 8%. Examples of silane, monosilane (Monosilane: _SiH 4), trichlorosilane (Trichlorosilane: SiHCl _3), tetramethoxysilane _{(Silicontetramethoxide: Si (OCH 3)} 4), tetraethoxysilane _{(Silicont etraethoxide: Si (OC 2} H 5 ₄ ) and the like. Examples of substances that can serve as a source of P ₂ O ₅ include, besides P ₂ O ₅ , phosphine (PH ₃ ), trimethyl phosphite (Trimethylphosphite: P (OCH ₃ ) ₃ ), triethyl phosphite (Triethyl phosphite): P (OC ₂ H ₅ ) ₃ ), trimethyl phosphate (PO (OCH ₃ ) ₃ ), triethyl phosphate (PO (OC ₂ H ₅ ) ₃ ), and the like. This low temperature process is well known to those skilled in the art. PSG is a very clean inert material that can be deposited at relatively low temperatures and etched with dilute H ₂ O: HF solution at very high etch rates, making it a suitable sacrificial layer material. is there. In the etching performed in the subsequent steps, an etching rate of about 3 μm per minute is obtained at a dilution ratio of 10: 1.

  The surface of the PSG sacrificial layer 55 as deposited is very rough when viewed at the atomic level. Therefore, the as-deposited PSG sacrificial layer 55 is insufficient as a substrate for forming an acoustic resonator. The FBAR / SBAR type acoustic resonator requires a piezoelectric material in which a crystal grows in a columnar crystal perpendicular to the electrode surface. By polishing and smoothing the surface of the PSG sacrificial layer 55 using a polishing slurry containing fine abrasive particles, a thin film of a piezoelectric material having excellent crystallinity is formed.

  That is, as shown in FIG. 5, the surface of the PSG layer 55 is entirely planarized by polishing with a rough finish slurry, and the portion of the PSG layer outside the recess 52 is removed. Next, the remaining PSG layer 55 is polished with a slurry containing finer abrasive particles. As an alternative, the two polishing steps may be performed with one finer slurry, if polishing time is acceptable. The goal is a mirror finish.

  In the present invention, it is preferable to heat-treat the PSG layer at a high temperature for both densification and reflow before polishing the PSG layer. The heat treatment of the PSG layer can be performed by an RTA (Rapid Thermal Anneal) method. This is performed at a temperature of 750 ° C. to 950 ° C. in a nitrogen atmosphere or a nitrogen-oxygen mixed atmosphere. Alternatively, the high temperature heat treatment may be performed by a diffusion furnace or lamp heating. In the present invention, the PSG layer is heat-treated at a high temperature, thereby making the PSG layer a denser structure and increasing its hardness. By increasing the hardness, it is possible to suppress occurrence of scratches such as scratches on the surface of the PSG film in subsequent CMP (Chemical Mechanical Polishing) and to flatten the surface satisfactorily.

  As described above, it is also important to clean the substrate in which the PSG layer 55 remains at the position corresponding to the recess 52. The slurry leaves a small amount of silica coarse powder on the wafer. This coarse powder must be removed. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, this coarse powder removal is performed using a second abrasive tool with a hard pad such as Polytex ™ (Rodel Nitta). Deionized water is used as a lubricant at that time, and the wafer is placed in deionized water until it is polished and ready for the final cleaning step. Care is taken not to dry the substrate between the last polishing step and the last cleaning step. The final cleaning step consists of immersing the substrate in a series of tanks containing various chemicals. Add ultrasonic agitation to each tank. Such cleaning means are well known to those skilled in the art.

  The abrasive is composed of silica fine particles. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, an ammonia-based slurry of silica fine particles (Rodel Klebosol # 30N: Rodel Nitta) is used.

  Although the above description has shown a specific polishing and cleaning mode, any polishing and cleaning mode that provides the required smooth surface can be utilized. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the final surface has a height RMS variation as measured with an atomic force microscope probe of 25 nm or less (preferably 20 nm or less).

  After the surface is cleaned as described above, the lower electrode 61 of the sandwich structure 60 is deposited as shown in FIG. A suitable material for the lower electrode 61 is molybdenum (Mo). However, the lower electrode 61 can be made of other materials such as Al, W, Au, Pt or Ti. Molybdenum (Mo) is preferred because of its low thermoelastic loss. For example, the thermoelastic loss of Mo is about 1/56 of Al.

  The thickness of the lower electrode 61 is also important. A thick layer has a rougher surface than a thin layer. Maintaining a smooth surface for the deposition of the piezoelectric layer 62 is very important to the performance of the resulting resonator. Therefore, the thickness of the lower electrode is preferably 150 nm or less. Mo is preferably deposited by sputtering. As a result, a Mo layer having an RMS fluctuation of the surface height of 25 nm or less (preferably 20 nm or less) is obtained.

  After the lower electrode 61 is deposited, the piezoelectric layer 62 is deposited. A suitable material for the piezoelectric layer 62 is AlN or ZnO, which is also deposited by sputtering. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the thickness of the piezoelectric layer 62 is between 0.1 μm and 10 μm (preferably 0.5 μm to 2 μm). The upper surface of the piezoelectric layer 62 preferably has an RMS fluctuation in height of 5% or less of the piezoelectric layer thickness (average value).

  Finally, the upper electrode 63 is deposited. The upper electrode 63 is made of the same material as the lower electrode 61, and is preferably made of Mo.

As described above, the sandwiching structure 60 composed of the lower electrode 61, the piezoelectric layer 62, and the upper electrode 63, which is patterned into a required shape, is formed, and then the sandwiching structure is formed as shown in FIG. The PSG below the sandwich structure 60 is also removed by etching with a diluted H ₂ O: HF solution from the end of the body 60 or the portion of the sacrificial layer 55 exposed without being covered by the sandwich structure 60. To do. As a result, as shown in FIG. 8, the sandwich structure 60 bridged on the recess 52 remains. That is, the sandwiching structure 60 is supported at the edge by the substrate so as to straddle the depression 52 formed on the surface of the substrate.

  In the FBAR obtained as described above, according to the surface of the sacrificial layer 55 (height RMS fluctuation is 25 nm or less (preferably 20 nm or less)), the height of the lower surface of the lower electrode 61 formed thereon is set. The RMS variation is 25 nm or less (preferably 20 nm or less). Further, since the lower electrode 61 is thin, the RMS variation of the height of the upper surface is 25 nm or less (preferably 20 nm or less). In accordance with the upper surface of the lower electrode 61, the RMS variation in the height of the lower surface of the piezoelectric layer 62 formed thereon is 25 nm or less (preferably 20 nm or less). Even though the smooth upper surface of the lower electrode 61 does not have a crystal structure as a growth nucleus of the piezoelectric layer 62, the formed piezoelectric layer 62 has a c-axis orientation having a very regular structure and is excellent. Gives piezoelectric properties.

9 to 10 are schematic cross-sectional views for explaining still another embodiment of a method for manufacturing an FBAR that is an acoustic resonator according to the present invention and an FBAR obtained thereby. In this embodiment, the insulator layer 54 is formed as shown in FIG. 9 after the steps described with reference to FIGS. The insulator layer 54 is, for example, a SiO ₂ film, and can be deposited by a CVD method. In consideration of the resistance to the etching solution for removing the sacrificial layer 55, it is preferable to use the Si ₃ N ₄ film formed by the low pressure CVD method as the insulator layer 54 rather than the SiO ₂ film. When a SiO ₂ film is used as the insulator layer 54, an appropriate protection may be applied to the exposed surface of the SiO ₂ film during etching for removing the sacrificial layer 55.

  On top of that, the sandwiching structure 60 is formed by performing the steps described with reference to FIG. Next, as shown in FIG. 10, the steps described with reference to FIGS. 7 and 8 are performed to obtain the FBAR. At that time, in order to remove the sacrificial layer 55 by etching, an appropriate portion of the end portion of the sandwich structure 60 or the portion of the insulator layer 54 not covered by the sandwich structure 60 and above the sacrificial layer 55 is appropriately disposed. An opening having a size is formed, and an etching solution is supplied from the opening.

  In the FBAR of the present embodiment, the insulator layer 54 is disposed between the sandwich structure 60 and the cavity 52, and the vibrating portion is configured to include the insulator layer 54 in addition to the sandwich structure 60. The strength of the vibration part is improved, and the frequency temperature characteristic in the vibration of the vibration part is further improved.

  The thickness t ′ of the insulator layer 54 is preferably a value in the range of 50 to 1000 nm. This is because the ratio t ′ / t of the thickness t ′ of the insulating layer 54 to the thickness t of the piezoelectric layer 62 is preferably in the range of 0.1 to 0.5. This is because the thickness t is preferably in the range of 500 nm to 2000 nm as described above. The reason why the ratio t ′ / t is preferably in the range of 0.1 or more and 0.5 or less is that in the vibration of the vibration part including the insulator layer 54 by setting t ′ / t to 0.1 or more. The effect of improving the frequency-temperature characteristics is enhanced, and by reducing t ′ / t to 0.5 or less, the electromechanical coupling coefficient and the acoustic quality factor (Q value) in the vibration of the vibration part including the insulator layer 54 are reduced. It is because it can prevent. On the upper surface of the insulator layer 54, the RMS variation in height is, for example, 25 nm or less (preferably 20 nm or less).

  In the above embodiment, in order to obtain a higher acoustic quality factor (Q value), the thickness uniformity in each layer of the insulator layer 54, the lower electrode 61, the piezoelectric layer 62, and the upper electrode 63 is better. It is necessary to be. This thickness uniformity is reflected in the undulation height of the surface of the upper electrode 63 (that is, when the undulation height of the surface of the upper electrode 63 is large, the thickness uniformity of at least one layer is low. ). Therefore, in order to obtain a higher acoustic quality factor (Q value), it is preferable that the surface waviness height of the upper electrode 63 be 25% or less of the thickness of the piezoelectric layer 62. From another viewpoint, the undulation height of the surface of the upper electrode 63 is 0.5% or less of the measurement length (when the measurement length is 150 μm, the undulation height is 0.75 μm or less). Is preferred.

  The above embodiment relates to FBAR. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the above description that SBAR can be made using a similar process. In the case of SBAR, another piezoelectric layer (second piezoelectric layer) and an electrode thereon (second upper electrode) must be deposited. Since the second piezoelectric layer is formed on the upper electrode of “FBAR” as shown in the above embodiment, the thickness of the upper electrode is also maintained at 150 nm or less and the second piezoelectric layer is formed. An appropriate surface for depositing the body layer (similar to the surface of the lower electrode of the first piezoelectric layer) must be provided.

  FIG. 11 is a schematic cross-sectional view for explaining still another embodiment of the FBAR manufacturing method and the FBAR obtained by the method according to the present invention, and FIG. 12 is a plan view of the upper electrode. It is. In this embodiment, only the shape of the upper electrode 63 is different from the embodiment described with reference to FIGS.

  In the present embodiment, the upper electrode 63 has a central portion 631 and an outer peripheral portion 632 that is positioned in a frame shape around the central portion and is thicker than the central portion 631. The boundary between the central portion 631 and the outer peripheral portion 632 is formed by a step.

  The thickness of the outer peripheral portion 632 is preferably 1.1 times or more the thickness of the central portion 631. Moreover, it is preferable that the thickness fluctuation | variation of the center part 631 is 1% or less of the thickness (average value) of this center part. The dimension a of the upper electrode 63 is, for example, 100 μm. The outer peripheral part 632 is located within a range from the outer edge of the upper electrode 63 to the distance b, and the distance b is, for example, a value up to 40 μm.

  By adopting such an upper electrode structure, it is possible to suppress the occurrence of lateral vibrations at the outer periphery of the upper electrode and to prevent excessive spurious vibrations from overlapping the vibrations of the acoustic resonator. As a result, the resonance characteristics and quality factor of the acoustic resonator and the filter are improved.

  In the present embodiment, in order to obtain a higher acoustic quality factor (Q value), the waviness height of the surface of the central portion 631 of the upper electrode 63 is 25% or less of the thickness of the piezoelectric layer 62. It is preferable to do this. From another point of view, it is preferable that the undulation height of the surface of the central portion 631 of the upper electrode 63 is 0.5% or less of the measurement length.

In the above-described embodiment of the present invention, a sacrificial layer made of PSG is used, but other materials can be used for the sacrificial layer. For example, BPSG (Boron-Phosphor-Silicate-Glass) or other forms of glass such as spin glass may be utilized. There are other plastics such as polyvinyl, polypropylene, and polystyrene that can be deposited on the material by spinning. Since the surface of these deposited materials is not smooth from the atomic level, even when the sacrificial layer is composed of these materials, surface smoothing by polishing is important as in the case of the PSG sacrificial layer. These sacrificial layers can also be removed by organic removal materials or O ₂ plasma etching.

  Next, FIGS. 13 and 14 are cross-sectional views of FBAR and SBAR, respectively, which are thin film acoustic resonators according to the present invention.

  In FIG. 13, the FBAR 20 includes an upper electrode layer 21, a lower electrode layer 23, and a contact electrode layer 24, which form a sandwich structure by sandwiching a part of the piezoelectric thin film layer 22. A suitable material for the piezoelectric thin film layer 22 is aluminum nitride (AlN) or zinc oxide (ZnO). The contact electrode layer 24 used for the FBAR 20 is preferably made of Ti, Cr, Ni, Ta, but other materials can also be used. The upper and lower electrode layers 21, 23 are preferably made of Au, Pt, W, Mo, although other materials can be used. The sandwich structure is arranged so that the contact electrode layer 24 is positioned on the substrate 11 around the recess 12 formed on the upper surface of the substrate 11.

  This element utilizes the action of bulk acoustic waves in the piezoelectric thin film layer. When an electric field is generated between the two electrodes 21 and 23 by the applied voltage, the piezoelectric thin film converts a part of the electric energy into mechanical energy in the form of sound waves. Sound waves propagate in the same direction as the electric field and are reflected at the electrode / air interface.

  When mechanically resonating, the acoustic resonator acts as an electrical resonator due to the electrical energy / mechanical energy conversion function of the PZ material. Therefore, the element can operate as a notch filter. The mechanical resonance of the element occurs at a frequency where the thickness of the material through which the sound wave propagates is equal to the half wavelength of the sound wave. The frequency of the sound wave is the frequency of an electric signal applied between the electrodes 21 and 23. Since the speed of sound waves is 5 to 6 orders of magnitude smaller than the speed of light, the resulting resonator can be made very compact. Resonators for GHz band applications can be constructed with dimensions in the order of about 100 μm in plane dimension and several μm in thickness.

  Next, SBAR will be described with reference to FIG. SBAR 40 provides an electrical function similar to a bandpass filter. The SBAR 40 is basically two FBAR filters that are mechanically coupled. A signal that traverses the contact electrode layer 24 and the lower electrode layer 45 and the electrode layer 44 at the resonance frequency of the piezoelectric thin film layer 42 transmits acoustic energy to the piezoelectric thin film layer 41. The mechanical vibration in the piezoelectric thin film layer 41 is converted into an electrical signal traversing the electrode layer 44 and the electrode layer 43.

  FIGS. 15 to 21 are schematic cross-sectional views (FIGS. 15 to 20) and schematic planes for explaining an embodiment of an FBAR that is a thin film acoustic resonator according to the present invention and an FBAR obtained thereby. It is a figure (FIG. 21).

  First, as shown in FIG. 15, a recess is formed by etching in a normal silicon wafer 51 used for integrated circuit fabrication. The depth of the depression is preferably 1.5 to 30 μm, more preferably 1.5 to 10 μm, or in some cases 3 to 30 μm. The depth of the cavity below the sandwiched structure of the FBAR may allow a displacement caused by the piezoelectric thin film layer. Therefore, it is sufficient that the cavity has a depth of several μm.

  A thin layer 53 of silicon oxide is formed on the surface of the wafer 51 by thermal oxidation, thereby preventing phosphorus from diffusing into the wafer 51 from the PSG which is a sacrificial layer formed thereon. As the thin layer 53, a silicon nitride layer formed by a low pressure CVD method may be used instead of the silicon oxide layer. By suppressing the diffusion of phosphorus into the wafer 51 in this way, the silicon wafer is prevented from being converted into a conductor, and the adverse effect on the electrical operation of the fabricated element can be eliminated. A substrate in which a thin layer 53 of silicon oxide or silicon nitride is formed on the surface of the wafer 51 as described above is used as a substrate. That is, FIG. 15 shows a state in which a recess 52 having a depth of preferably 1.5 to 30 μm, more preferably 1.5 to 10 μm or even 3 to 30 μm is formed on the surface of the substrate.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 16, a contact electrode layer 161 is formed on the substrate so as to surround the recess 52. When the area (planar area) of the upper surface of the contact electrode layer 161 is S1, and the plane area of the lower electrode formed thereon is S2, S1 is within the range of 0.01 × S2 ≦ S1 ≦ 0.5 × S2. It is preferable that it exists in. In the case of S1 <0.01 × S2, the adhesive force between the substrate and the lower electrode is weakened, and the effect of the present invention tends not to be sufficiently exhibited. In the case of S1> 0.5 × S2, the contact electrode layer 161 affects the operation of the thin film acoustic resonator, and there is a tendency that good resonance characteristics cannot be obtained. The thickness of the contact electrode layer 161 may be sufficient to hold the lower electrode layer formed thereon, and may be within a range of, for example, 20 nm to 1 μm. In addition, the material of the close contact electrode layer 161 preferably includes at least one selected from Ti, Cr, Ni, and Ta.

  As described above, the close contact electrode layer 161 is provided around the substrate recess 52, thereby suppressing the occurrence of lateral vibration in the thin film acoustic resonator and preventing excessive spurious vibration from overlapping the vibration of the thin film acoustic resonator. can do. As a result, the resonance characteristics and quality factor of the thin film acoustic resonator and the filter are improved. In addition, since there is no adhesion electrode layer 161 made of Ti, Cr, Ni, Ta or the like below the central portion of the lower electrode layer made of Au, Pt, W, Mo, or the like, in this portion, It has been found that the orientation and crystallinity can be improved, and as a result, the diffraction peak half-width (FWHM) in the rocking curve is small, and a piezoelectric thin film layer excellent in orientation and crystal quality can be formed. Due to the high orientation and good quality crystallization of the piezoelectric thin film layer, the resonance characteristics and quality factor of the thin film acoustic resonator and filter of the present invention are improved.

Next, as shown in FIG. 17, a sacrificial layer 55 made of PSG is deposited on the silicon oxide or silicon nitride thin layer 53 of the substrate on which the adhesion electrode layer 161 is formed. As described above, PSG is deposited at temperatures up to about 450 ° C. using silane and P ₂ O ₅ source materials as raw materials to form a soft glass-like material with a phosphorus content of about 8%. Examples of silanes include monosilane (Monosilane: SiH ₄ ), trichlorosilane (Trichlorosilane: SiHCl ₃ ), tetramethoxysilane (Silicontetramethoxide: Si (OCH ₃ ) ₄ ), tetraethoxysilane (Silicontetraethoxide H ₂ O ₅ C) ₄ ). Examples of substances that can serve as a source of P ₂ O ₅ include, besides P ₂ O ₅ , phosphine (PH ₃ ), trimethyl phosphite (Trimethylphosphite: P (OCH ₃ ) ₃ ), triethyl phosphite (Triethyl phosphite): P (OC ₂ H ₅ ) ₃ ), trimethyl phosphate (PO (OCH ₃ ) ₃ ), triethyl phosphate (PO (OC ₂ H ₅ ) ₃ ), and the like. This low temperature process is well known to those skilled in the art. PSG is a very clean inert material that can be deposited at relatively low temperatures and etched with dilute H ₂ O: HF solution at very high etch rates, making it a suitable sacrificial layer material. is there. In the etching performed in the subsequent steps, an etching rate of about 3 μm per minute is obtained at a dilution ratio of 10: 1.

  The surface of the PSG sacrificial layer 55 as deposited is very rough when viewed at the atomic level. Therefore, the as-deposited PSG sacrificial layer 55 is insufficient as a substrate for forming a thin film acoustic resonator. An FBAR / SBAR type thin film acoustic resonator requires a piezoelectric material in which a crystal grows in a columnar crystal perpendicular to the electrode surface. By polishing and smoothing the surface of the PSG sacrificial layer 55 using a polishing slurry containing fine abrasive particles, it becomes possible to form a lower electrode layer having excellent orientation and crystal quality, and thus excellent orientation and A piezoelectric thin film layer having crystal quality can be formed.

  That is, as shown in FIG. 18, the surface of the PSG sacrificial layer 55 is planarized by polishing with a rough finish slurry, and the portion of the PSG layer deposited on the adhesion electrode layer 161 is removed. The remaining PSG layer 55 can then be polished using a precision finish slurry containing finer abrasive particles. As an alternative, one fine precision finishing slurry can be used in two polishing steps if the polishing time can be long. The goal is to achieve a “mirror” -like finish (mirror finish).

  In the present invention, it is preferable to heat-treat the PSG layer at a high temperature for both densification and reflow before polishing the PSG layer. The heat treatment of the PSG layer can be performed by an RTA (Rapid Thermal Anneal) method. This is performed at a temperature of 750 ° C. to 950 ° C. in a nitrogen atmosphere or a nitrogen-oxygen mixed atmosphere. Alternatively, the high temperature heat treatment may be performed by a diffusion furnace or lamp heating. In the present invention, the PSG layer is heat-treated at a high temperature, thereby making the PSG layer a denser structure and increasing its hardness. By increasing the hardness, it is possible to suppress occurrence of scratches such as scratches on the surface of the PSG film in subsequent CMP (Chemical Mechanical Polishing) and to flatten the surface satisfactorily.

  It is also important to clean the substrate after polishing performed as described above. Since the slurry leaves a small amount of coarse silica powder on the substrate, this coarse powder must be removed. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, this silica coarse powder removal is performed using a second polishing tool with a hard pad such as Polytex ™ (Rodel Nitta). Deionized water is used as a lubricant at that time, and the substrate is placed in deionized water until it is polished and ready for the final cleaning step. Care is taken not to dry the substrate between the last polishing step and the last cleaning step. The final cleaning step consists of immersing the substrate in a series of tanks containing various chemicals. In each tank, ultrasonic agitation is applied. Such cleaning means are well known to those skilled in the art.

  The abrasive is composed of silica fine particles. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, an ammonia-based slurry of silica fine particles (Rodel Klebosol # 30N: Rodel Nitta) is used.

  Although the above description has shown a specific polishing and cleaning mode, any polishing and cleaning mode that provides the required smooth surface can be utilized. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the final surface has a surface roughness with an RMS variation in height as measured with an atomic force microscope probe of 25 nm or less, preferably 20 nm or less, more preferably 10 nm or less.

  After smoothing the surface as described above and further cleaning the surface of the contact electrode layer 161 by plasma etching, the lower electrode layer 162 of the sandwich structure 60 is deposited as shown in FIG. Suitable materials for the lower electrode layer 162 are Au, Pt, W, and Mo. The orientation and crystallinity of the lower electrode layer 162 are reflected in the orientation and crystal quality of the piezoelectric thin film layer 163 formed thereon.

  The thickness of the lower electrode layer 162 is also important. A thick layer has a rougher surface than a thin layer. As noted above, maintaining a smooth surface for the deposition of the piezoelectric film layer 163 is very important to the performance of the resulting resonator. Therefore, the thickness of the lower electrode layer 162 is preferably less than 200 nm. Au, Pt, W, and Mo are preferably deposited by sputtering. By this method, the lower electrode layer 162 having a surface roughness with an RMS fluctuation of the surface height of 25 nm or less, preferably 20 nm or less, more preferably 10 nm or less is obtained.

  After the lower electrode layer 162 is deposited, the PSG sacrificial layer remaining around the lower electrode layer 162 is removed, and a piezoelectric thin film layer 163 is deposited. A suitable material for the piezoelectric thin film layer 163 is AlN or ZnO, which is also deposited by sputtering. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the thickness of the piezoelectric thin film layer 163 is between 0.1 μm and 10 μm, preferably between 0.5 μm and 2 μm.

  Finally, an upper electrode layer 164 is deposited. The upper electrode layer 164 is made of the same material as that of the lower electrode layer 162, and is preferably made of Au, Pt, W, and Mo.

As described above, after forming the sandwich structure 60 that is formed by bonding the adhesion electrode layer 161, the lower electrode layer 162, the piezoelectric thin film layer 163, and the upper electrode layer 164 and is patterned into a required shape, The sacrificial layer 55 passes through the upper electrode layer 164, the piezoelectric thin film layer 163, and the lower electrode layer 162 from the periphery of the upper electrode layer 164 downward by a dry etching method such as RIE (reactive ion etching). PSG below the sandwich structure 60 is removed by opening a small through hole that reaches up to and then etching with diluted H ₂ O: HF solution. Accordingly, as shown in FIGS. 20 and 21, the sandwich structure 60 bridged on the recess 52 remains. That is, the sandwiching structure 60 has the contact electrode layer 161 positioned around the recess 52 formed on the surface of the substrate, and the edge is supported by the substrate so as to straddle the recess 52.

  In the thin film acoustic resonator obtained as described above, since the mass is increased by the amount of the contact electrode layer 161 in the peripheral portion of the sandwich structure 60, the occurrence of lateral vibration is suppressed, and the thin film acoustic resonator It is possible to prevent excessive spurious vibrations from overlapping in the vibration. Further, by forming the contact electrode layer 161 around the recess 52, it becomes possible to deposit a lower electrode layer made of Au, Pt, etc., which could not be deposited alone on the cavity, and made of W, Mo, etc. Adhesion with the underlying substrate is also improved for the lower electrode layer.

  Further, according to the method for manufacturing a thin film acoustic resonator as described above, the central portion of the lower electrode layer 162 made of Au, Pt, W, Mo or the like is placed on a glassy sacrificial layer such as silica glass or quartz phosphate glass. Since it is formed, the orientation and crystallinity of the lower electrode layer is superior to the case of forming an electrode layer such as Au, Pt, W, and Mo as a whole on an adhesion layer made of conventional Ti or the like, A high-quality crystal film having a small diffraction peak half width (FWHM) in the rocking curve can be obtained. By improving the orientation and crystal quality of the lower electrode layer 162 in this manner, the orientation and crystal quality of the piezoelectric thin film layer formed thereon can be improved.

  The above embodiment relates to FBAR. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the above description that SBAR can be made using a similar process. In the case of SBAR, another piezoelectric layer (second piezoelectric layer) and an electrode layer thereon must be deposited. Since the second piezoelectric layer is formed on the upper electrode layer of “FBAR” as shown in the above embodiment, the thickness of the upper electrode layer is maintained at, for example, 100 nm, and the second piezoelectric layer is formed. An appropriate surface condition for depositing the piezoelectric layer is provided. For example, it is preferable that the surface has a smooth surface with a surface roughness of RMS fluctuation of 25 nm or less, preferably 20 nm or less, more preferably 10 nm or less.

In the above-described embodiment of the present invention, a sacrificial layer made of PSG is used, but other materials can be used for the sacrificial layer. For example, BPSG (Boron-Phosphor-silicate-Glass) or other forms of glass such as spin glass may be utilized. There are other plastics such as polyvinyl, polypropylene, and polystyrene that can be deposited on the substrate by spinning. Even when the sacrificial layer is formed of these materials, surface smoothing by polishing is important as in the case of the PSG sacrificial layer. These sacrificial layers can also be removed by organic removal materials or O ₂ plasma etching.

  Next, FIG. 22 is a schematic plan view showing an embodiment of a piezoelectric thin film resonator (thin film acoustic resonator) according to the present invention, and FIG. 23 is an XX sectional view thereof. In these drawings, the piezoelectric thin film resonator 111 has a substrate 112, an insulating layer 13 formed on the upper surface of the substrate 112, and a piezoelectric laminated structure 14 bonded on the upper surface of the insulating layer 13. The piezoelectric laminated structure 14 includes a lower electrode 15 formed on the upper surface of the insulating layer 13, a piezoelectric film 16 formed on the upper surface of the base film 13 so as to cover a part of the lower electrode 15, and the piezoelectric film. The upper electrode 17 is formed on the upper surface of the body film 16. A via hole 120 that forms a gap is formed in the substrate 112. A part of the insulating layer 13 is exposed toward the via hole 120. The exposed portion of the insulating layer 13 and the portion of the piezoelectric multilayer structure 14 corresponding thereto constitute a vibrating portion (vibrating diaphragm) 121. The lower electrode 15 and the upper electrode 17 include main portions 15a and 17a formed in a region corresponding to the vibration portion 121, and terminal portions 15b and 17b for connecting the main portions 15a and 17a to an external circuit. Have The terminal portions 15 b and 17 b are located outside the region corresponding to the vibrating portion 121.

  As the substrate 112, a single crystal such as Si (100) single crystal, or a substrate in which a polycrystalline film such as silicon, diamond or the like is formed on the surface of a base material such as Si single crystal can be used. As a method for forming the via hole 120 of the substrate 112, an anisotropic etching method from the lower surface side of the substrate is exemplified. Note that the gap formed in the substrate 112 is not limited to that formed by the via hole 120, and may be any as long as it allows vibration of the vibrating portion 121, and is a recess formed in the upper surface region of the substrate corresponding to the vibrating portion 121. There may be.

The insulating layer 13 is a dielectric film mainly composed of silicon oxide (SiO ₂ ) or silicon nitride (SiN _x ) (preferably the content is 50 equivalent% or more). The dielectric film may be composed of a single layer, or may be composed of a plurality of layers to which layers for improving adhesion are added. As an example of the dielectric film composed of a plurality of layers, one in which a silicon nitride layer is added to one side or both sides of a SiO ₂ layer is exemplified. The thickness of the insulating layer 13 is, for example, 0.2 to 2.0 μm. Examples of the method for forming the insulating layer 13 include a thermal oxidation method, a CVD method, and a low pressure CVD method for the surface of the substrate 112 made of silicon.

  The lower electrode 15 and the upper electrode 17 are conductive films containing molybdenum (Mo) as a main component (preferably having a content of 80 equivalent% or more). Since Mo has a low thermoelastic loss (about 1/56 of Al), it is particularly suitable for constituting a vibration part that vibrates at a high frequency. It is possible to use not only Mo alone but also an alloy containing Mo as a main component. The thickness of the lower electrode 15 and the upper electrode 17 is, for example, 50 to 200 nm. As a method of forming the lower electrode 15 and the upper electrode 17, a sputtering method or a vapor deposition method is exemplified, and a photolithography technique is used for patterning into a required shape as necessary.

  The piezoelectric film 16 is made of a piezoelectric film containing AlN as a main component (preferably having a content of 90 equivalent% or more), and has a thickness of, for example, 0.5 to 2.5 μm. An example of a method for forming the piezoelectric film 16 is a reactive sputtering method, and a photolithography technique is used for patterning into a required shape as necessary.

In the FBAR having the piezoelectric film 16 having AlN as a main component and having the fundamental mode resonance in the vicinity of 2 GHz in the configuration shown in FIGS. As a result of intensive studies to improve the temperature stability of the resonance frequency without impairing the electromechanical coupling coefficient and the acoustic quality factor while utilizing the features, the insulating layer 13 is composed mainly of SiO ₂ or SiN _x. In addition, it has been found that it is effective to use a material mainly composed of Mo as the upper and lower electrodes 15 and 17. Further, the thickness t of the piezoelectric film 16 and the thickness t ′ of the insulating layer 13 satisfy 0.1 ≦ t ′ / t ≦ 0.5, preferably 0.2 ≦ t ′ / t ≦ 0.4. Thus, it has been found that the electromechanical coupling coefficient, the acoustic quality factor, and the temperature stability of the resonance frequency are all improved. When t ′ / t <0.1, the electromechanical coupling coefficient and the acoustic quality factor may slightly improve, but the absolute value of the temperature coefficient of the resonance frequency increases and the characteristics as the FBAR tend to decrease. is there. Further, when t ′ / t> 0.5, the electromechanical coupling coefficient and the acoustic quality factor decrease, the absolute value of the temperature coefficient of the resonance frequency increases, and the characteristics as the FBAR tend to decrease.

  FIG. 24 is a schematic plan view showing still another embodiment of the piezoelectric thin film resonator according to the present invention, and FIG. 25 is an XX sectional view thereof. In these drawings, members having the same functions as those in FIGS. 22 and 23 are given the same reference numerals.

In the present embodiment, in addition to the insulating layer 13, an insulating layer 18 containing SiO ₂ or SiN _x as a main component (preferably containing 50 equivalent% or more) is bonded to the piezoelectric laminated structure 14. The insulating layer 18 is formed on the main portion 17 a of the upper electrode 17. The insulating layer 18 may extend beyond a region corresponding to the vibration part 121 and may be formed over a wide range on the piezoelectric film 16. Further, when the insulating layer 18 mainly composed of silicon oxide or silicon nitride is formed, the insulating layer 13 can be omitted. However, in this case, the main portion 15 a of the lower electrode 15 extends into the opening through two sides of the rectangular opening of the via hole 120 on the upper surface of the substrate 112, and the vibrating portion 121 is held by the lower electrode 15. It is preferable.

  In the embodiment of FIGS. 24 and 25, the same effect as that of the embodiment of FIGS.

  FIG. 26 is a schematic plan view showing still another embodiment of the piezoelectric thin film resonator according to the present invention, and FIG. 27 is an XX sectional view thereof. In these drawings, members having the same functions as those in FIGS. 22 to 25 are given the same reference numerals.

  In the present embodiment, the lower electrode 15 has a rectangular shape, and the upper electrode 17 includes a first electrode portion 17A and a second electrode portion 17B. These electrode portions 17A and 17B have main portions 17Aa and 17Ba and terminal portions 17Ab and 17Bb, respectively. The main portions 17Aa and 17Ba are located in a region corresponding to the vibrating portion 121, and the terminal portions 17Ab and 17Bb are located outside the region corresponding to the vibrating portion 121.

  FIG. 28 is a schematic plan view showing still another embodiment of the piezoelectric thin film resonator according to the present invention, and FIG. 29 is an XX sectional view thereof. In these drawings, members having functions similar to those in FIGS. 22 to 27 are given the same reference numerals.

  In the present embodiment, the lower electrode 15 has a rectangular shape, and the upper electrode 17 includes a first electrode portion 17A and a second electrode portion 17B. These electrode portions 17A and 17B have main portions 17Aa and 17Ba and terminal portions 17Ab and 17Bb, respectively. The main portions 17Aa and 17Ba are located in a region corresponding to the vibrating portion 121, and the terminal portions 17Ab and 17Bb are located outside the region corresponding to the vibrating portion 121. In the present embodiment, the insulating layer 18 is formed so as to cover both the main part 17Aa of the first electrode part and the main part 17Ba of the second electrode part.

  In the embodiment of FIGS. 26 and 27 and the embodiment of FIGS. 28 and 29, the same effects as those of the embodiments of FIGS. 22 and 23 and the embodiments of FIGS. 26 and 27 and FIG. 28 The embodiments of FIGS. 28 and 29 are called multimode resonators, and one of the upper electrodes 17 (for example, the second electrode portion 17B) and the lower electrode 15 An input voltage can be applied between them, and the voltage between the other of the upper electrodes 17 (for example, the first electrode portion 17A) and the lower electrode 15 can be taken out as an output voltage.

In the piezoelectric thin-film resonator as described above, between the resonance frequency f _r and the antiresonance frequency f _a and the electromechanical coupling coefficient k _t ² in the impedance characteristic measured by using a microwave prober, the following relationship k _t ² = φ _r / Tan (φ _r )
φ _r = (π / 2) (f _r / f _a )
There is.

For simplicity, as the electromechanical coupling coefficient k _t ² , the following formula k _t ² = 4.8 (f _a −f _r ) / (f _a + f _r )
In this specification, the numerical value of the electromechanical coupling coefficient k _t ² is calculated using this equation.

22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27 and 28, 29, the electromechanical coupling coefficient k _t obtained from the measured values of the resonance frequency and antiresonance frequency in the vicinity of 2.0 GHz. ² is 4.0 to 6.5%. When the electromechanical coupling coefficient k _t ² is less than 4.0%, the bandwidth of the manufactured FBAR becomes small, and it tends to be difficult to put it to practical use in a high frequency range.

  Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to examples.

[Example 1]
A thin film acoustic resonator was fabricated as described in FIGS.

  First, the surface of the Si wafer 51 was covered with a Pt / Ti protective film, and the protective film was formed into a predetermined pattern for forming depressions by etching, thereby forming a mask for etching the Si wafer 51. Thereafter, wet etching was performed using a Pt / Ti pattern mask to form a recess having a depth of 20 μm and a width of 150 μm, as shown in FIG. This etching was performed at a liquid temperature of 70 ° C. using a 5 wt% aqueous KOH solution. The depth of the recess may be 3 μm.

Then, to remove the Pt / Ti pattern mask, as shown in Figure 3, the SiO ₂ layer 53 having a thickness of 1μm on the surface of the Si wafer 51 is formed by thermal oxidation, Si wafer 51 and the SiO ₂ layer 53 A structure in which a recess 52 is formed on a substrate made of is obtained.

Next, as shown in FIG. 4, a PSG sacrificial layer 55 having a thickness of 30 μm was deposited on the SiO ₂ layer 53 in which the recess 52 was formed. This deposition was performed by a thermal CVD method using silane and P ₂ O ₅ as raw materials at 450 ° C. Note that the thickness of the PSG sacrificial layer 55 may be 5 μm, silane and trimethyl phosphate (PO (OCH ₃ ) ₃ ) may be used as raw materials in the thermal CVD method, and the deposited PSG layer is further added with 1% oxygen. / Heat treatment at 850 ° C. for 20 minutes in a nitrogen mixed atmosphere may be reflowed to increase the hardness.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 5, the surface of the PSG sacrificial layer 55 was polished, and the PSG sacrificial layer 55 in a region other than the recess 52 was removed. Subsequently, the surface of the PSG sacrificial layer 55 remaining in the recess 52 was polished with a slurry containing fine abrasive particles, and the surface roughness was adjusted so that the RMS fluctuation of the height was 10 nm.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 6, a lower electrode 61 made of a Mo film having a thickness of 100 nm and a size of 200 × 200 μm was formed on the PSG sacrificial layer 55. The Mo film was formed by DC magnetron sputtering at room temperature using Ar as the sputtering gas. Then, the Mo film was patterned by a lift-off method. When the surface roughness of the formed Mo film was measured, the RMS fluctuation of the height was 15 nm.

Next, a piezoelectric layer 62 having a thickness of 1.0 μm made of a ZnO film was formed on the lower electrode 61. The ZnO film was formed by RF magnetron sputtering using ZnO as a sputtering target, a mixed gas of Ar and O ₂ as a sputtering gas, a sputtering gas pressure of 5 mTorr, and a substrate temperature of 400 ° C. When the surface roughness of the formed ZnO film was measured, the RMS variation in height was 11 nm, which was 5% or less of the film thickness. The piezoelectric layer 62 was obtained by patterning the ZnO film into a predetermined shape by wet etching.

  Next, an upper electrode 63 made of a Mo film having a thickness of 100 nm was formed on the piezoelectric layer 62. The formation and patterning of the Mo film were the same as in the formation of the lower electrode 61. When the surface of the upper electrode 63 was examined for the undulation height at a measurement length of 150 μm, it was 0.2 μm, which is 25% or less of the film thickness of the piezoelectric layer 62 and 0.5% or less of the measurement length.

The PSG sacrificial layer 55 was then removed by etching with a diluted H ₂ O: HF solution. As a result, as shown in FIG. 8, the Mo / ZnO / Mo sandwich structure 60 was bridged on the recess 52.

  When thin film XRD analysis of the obtained piezoelectric layer 62 was performed, the c-axis of the film was in the direction of 88.5 degrees with respect to the film surface, and as a result of examining the degree of orientation by a rocking curve, the half width of the peak was It was 2.5 degrees, indicating good orientation.

For the acoustic resonator obtained as described above, the impedance characteristic between the upper electrode 63 and the lower electrode 61 is measured using a microwave prober, and the resonance frequency fr and the antiresonance frequency fa are measured. Based on these measured values, the electromechanical coupling coefficient kt ² was calculated. The electromechanical coupling factor kt ² was 5.5% and the acoustic quality factor was 700. Table 1 shows the configuration of the FBAR obtained in Example 1 and the characteristics as an acoustic resonator.

[Comparative Example 1]
An acoustic resonator was fabricated in the same manner as in Example 1, except that the surface roughness of the PSG sacrificial layer 55 was polished so that the RMS fluctuation in height was 70 nm.

  When the surface roughness of the Mo film of the lower electrode 61 was measured, the RMS fluctuation of the height was 80 nm. Further, when the surface roughness of the ZnO film was measured, the RMS fluctuation of the height was 75 nm exceeding 5% of the film thickness. On the surface of the upper electrode 63, when the waviness height was examined at a measurement length of 150 μm, it was 1.0 μm which exceeded 0.5% of the measurement length.

  When the thin film XRD analysis of the obtained piezoelectric layer 62 was performed, the c-axis of the film was greatly inclined to 85.0 degrees with respect to the film surface. Was 7.0 degrees.

The electromechanical coupling coefficient kt ² of the acoustic resonator obtained as described above was 3.0%, and the acoustic quality factor was 400. Table 1 shows the configuration of the FBAR obtained in Comparative Example 1 and the characteristics as an acoustic resonator.

[Example 2]
An acoustic resonator was fabricated in the same manner as in Example 1 except that the piezoelectric layer 62 was made of an AlN film instead of the ZnO film. That is, a 1.2 μm thick piezoelectric layer 62 made of an AlN film was formed on the lower electrode 61. The AlN film was formed by RF magnetron sputtering at a substrate temperature of 400 ° C. using Al as a sputtering target, a mixed gas of Ar and N ₂ as a sputtering gas. When the surface roughness of the formed AlN film was measured, the RMS fluctuation of the height was 14 nm, which is 5% or less of the film thickness. When the surface of the upper electrode 63 was examined for the undulation height at a measurement length of 150 μm, it was 0.2 μm which was 25% or less of the film thickness of the piezoelectric layer 62 and 0.5% or less of the measurement length.

  When thin film XRD analysis of the obtained piezoelectric layer 62 was performed, the c-axis of the film was in the direction of 88.5 degrees with respect to the film surface, and as a result of examining the degree of orientation by a rocking curve, the half width of the peak was It was 2.8 degrees, indicating good orientation.

The electromechanical coupling coefficient kt ² of the acoustic resonator obtained as described above was 6.5%, and the acoustic quality factor was 900. Table 1 shows the configuration of the FBAR obtained in Example 2 and the characteristics as an acoustic resonator.

[Comparative Example 2]
An acoustic resonator was fabricated in the same manner as in Example 2, except that the surface roughness of the PSG sacrificial layer 55 was polished so that the RMS fluctuation in height was 70 nm.

  When the surface roughness of the Mo film of the lower electrode 61 was measured, the RMS fluctuation of the height was 85 nm. Further, when the surface roughness of the AlN film was measured, the RMS fluctuation of the height was 80 nm exceeding 5% of the film thickness. On the surface of the upper electrode 63, when the waviness height was examined at a measurement length of 150 μm, it was 1.25 μm which exceeded 0.5% of the measurement length.

  When thin film XRD analysis of the obtained piezoelectric layer 62 was performed, the c-axis of the film was greatly inclined to 83.0 degrees with respect to the film surface, and as a result of examining the degree of orientation by a rocking curve, the half-width of the peak Was 8.5 degrees.

The electromechanical coupling coefficient kt ² of the acoustic resonator obtained as described above was 3.5%, and the acoustic quality factor was 450. Table 1 shows the structure of the FBAR obtained in Comparative Example 2 and the characteristics as an acoustic resonator.

[Example 3]
Thin film acoustic resonators were fabricated as described in FIGS. 3 to 5 and 9 to 10.

  First, the structure shown in FIG. 5 was obtained in the same manner as in Example 1. However, the surface of the PSG sacrificial layer 55 remaining in the recess 52 was polished with a slurry containing fine abrasive particles so that the surface roughness was 5 nm in height fluctuation.

Next, as shown in FIG. 9, an insulator layer 54 made of a SiO ₂ film having a thickness of 500 nm was formed on the substrate by the CVD method so as to cover the surface of the PSG sacrificial layer 55 as well. When the surface roughness of the formed insulator layer 54 was measured, the RMS fluctuation of the height was 10 nm.

  Next, a lower electrode 61 made of a Mo film was formed on the insulator layer 54 as shown in FIG. When the surface roughness of the formed Mo film was measured, the RMS fluctuation of the height was 15 nm.

  Next, in the same manner as in Example 1, a piezoelectric layer 62 made of a ZnO film was formed on the lower electrode 61. When the surface roughness of the formed ZnO film was measured, the RMS variation in height was 10 nm, which is 5% or less of the film thickness. The piezoelectric layer 62 was obtained by patterning the ZnO film into a predetermined shape by wet etching.

  Next, in the same manner as in Example 1, an upper electrode 63 made of a Mo film was formed on the piezoelectric layer 62. When the surface of the upper electrode 63 was examined for the undulation height at a measurement length of 150 μm, it was 0.2 μm, which is 25% or less of the film thickness of the piezoelectric layer 62 and 0.5% or less of the measurement length.

Next, a via hole reaching the PSG sacrificial layer 55 was opened in the exposed portion of the insulator layer 54, and the PSG sacrificial layer 55 was removed by etching with a diluted H ₂ O: HF solution through the opening. As a result, as shown in FIG. 10, a form in which the laminated body of the insulating layer 54 and the sandwich structure 60 of Mo / ZnO / Mo was bridged on the depression 52 was formed.

  When thin film XRD analysis of the obtained piezoelectric layer 62 was performed, the c-axis of the film was in the direction of 88.5 degrees with respect to the film surface, and as a result of examining the degree of orientation by a rocking curve, the half width of the peak was It was 2.3 degrees, indicating good orientation.

For the acoustic resonator obtained as described above, the impedance characteristic between the upper electrode 63 and the lower electrode 61 is measured using a microwave prober, and the resonance frequency fr and the antiresonance frequency fa are measured. Based on these measured values, the electromechanical coupling coefficient kt ² was calculated. The electromechanical coupling factor kt ² was 4.5% and the acoustic quality factor was 650. Table 1 shows the configuration of the FBAR obtained in Example 3 and the characteristics as an acoustic resonator.

[Comparative Example 3]
An acoustic resonator was fabricated in the same manner as in Example 3, except that the surface roughness of the PSG sacrificial layer 55 was polished so that the RMS fluctuation in height was 70 nm.

When the surface roughness of the SiO ₂ film of the insulator layer 54 was measured, the RMS fluctuation of the height was 85 nm. Further, when the surface roughness of the Mo film of the lower electrode 61 was measured, the RMS fluctuation of the height was 90 nm. Further, when the surface roughness of the ZnO film was measured, the RMS fluctuation of the height was 85 nm exceeding 5% of the film thickness. On the surface of the upper electrode 63, when the waviness height was examined at a measurement length of 150 μm, it was 1.0 μm which exceeded 0.5% of the measurement length.

  When thin film XRD analysis of the obtained piezoelectric layer 62 was performed, the c-axis of the film was greatly inclined to 83.0 degrees with respect to the film surface, and as a result of examining the degree of orientation by a rocking curve, the half-width of the peak Was 9.5 degrees.

The electromechanical coupling coefficient kt ² of the acoustic resonator obtained as described above was 2.8%, and the acoustic quality factor was 360. Table 1 shows the configuration of the FBAR obtained in Comparative Example 3 and the characteristics as an acoustic resonator.

[Example 4]
An acoustic resonator was manufactured in the same manner as in Example 2 except for the formation of the upper electrode 63. That is, after a Mo film having a thickness of 100 nm was formed on the piezoelectric layer 62 in the same manner as in Example 2, a Mo film having a thickness of 20 nm was further formed by a lift-off method in a region having a width of 30 μm from the outer edge. An upper electrode 63 as shown in FIG. 11 was formed.

  When the undulation height of the surface of the central portion 631 of the upper electrode 63 was examined at a measurement length of 100 μm, it was 0.15 μm which was 25% or less of the film thickness of the piezoelectric layer 62 and 0.5% or less of the measurement length. there were.

The electromechanical coupling coefficient kt ² of the acoustic resonator obtained as described above was 7.5%, and the acoustic quality factor was 950. Table 1 shows the configuration of the FBAR obtained in Example 4 and the characteristics as an acoustic resonator.

[Example 5]
A thin film acoustic resonator was fabricated as described in FIGS.

First, the surface of the Si wafer 51 was covered with a SiO ₂ protective film, and the protective film was formed into a predetermined pattern for forming a recess by etching to form a mask for etching the Si wafer 51. Thereafter, wet etching was performed using the mask to form a recess having a depth of 3 μm and a width of 150 μm, as shown in FIG. This etching was performed in the same manner as in Example 1.

Thereafter, the SiO ₂ pattern mask is removed by wet etching, and as shown in FIG. 3, a Si ₃ N ₄ layer 53 having a thickness of 200 nm is formed on the surface of the Si wafer 51, and the Si wafer 51 and the Si ₃ N are formed. A structure in which a depression 52 was formed on a substrate composed of _four layers 53 was obtained. The Si ₃ N ₄ layer 53 was deposited at 800 ° C. by low pressure CVD using monosilane (SiH ₄ ) and ammonia (NH ₃ ) as raw materials.

Next, as shown in FIG. 4, a PSG sacrificial layer 55 having a thickness of 5 μm was deposited on the Si ₃ N ₄ layer 53 in which the recess 52 was formed. This deposition was performed at 450 ° C. by a thermal CVD method using tetraethoxysilane (Si (OC ₂ H ₅ ) ₄ ) and trimethyl phosphate (PO (OCH ₃ ) ₃ ) as raw materials. Further, the deposited PSG layer was heat-treated at 850 ° C. for 20 minutes in a 1% oxygen / nitrogen mixed atmosphere to be reflowed to increase the hardness.

  Next, the structure shown in FIG. 5 was obtained in the same manner as in Example 1. However, by selecting the abrasive particles, the surface roughness of the PSG sacrificial layer 55 remaining in the recess 52 was set such that the RMS fluctuation of the height was 5 nm.

  Next, in the same manner as in Example 1, a lower electrode 61 made of a Mo film was formed as shown in FIG. When the surface roughness of the formed Mo film was measured, the RMS fluctuation of the height was 13 nm.

  Next, in the same manner as in Example 2, a 1.2 μm-thick piezoelectric layer 62 made of an AlN film was formed on the lower electrode 61. When the surface roughness of the formed AlN film was measured, the RMS fluctuation of the height was 10 nm, which is 5% or less of the film thickness.

  Next, in the same manner as in Example 1, an upper electrode 63 made of a Mo film was formed on the piezoelectric layer 62. When the surface of the upper electrode 63 was examined for the undulation height at a measurement length of 150 μm, it was 0.15 μm which was 25% or less of the film thickness of the piezoelectric layer 62 and 0.5% or less of the measurement length.

  Next, the PSG sacrificial layer 55 was removed in the same manner as in Example 1, and as a result, a Mo / AlN / Mo sandwich structure 60 was bridged on the recess 52 as shown in FIG. Formed form.

  When thin film XRD analysis of the obtained piezoelectric layer 62 was performed, the c-axis of the film was in the direction of 89.5 degrees with respect to the film surface, and as a result of examining the degree of orientation by a rocking curve, the half width of the peak ( FWHM) was 2.2 degrees, indicating good orientation.

For the acoustic resonator obtained as described above, the impedance characteristic between the upper electrode 63 and the lower electrode 61 is measured using a microwave prober, and the resonance frequency fr and the antiresonance frequency fa are measured. Based on these measured values, the electromechanical coupling coefficient kt ² was calculated. The electromechanical coupling factor kt ² was 6.7% and the acoustic quality factor was 980. Table 1 shows the configuration of the FBAR obtained in Example 5 and the characteristics as an acoustic resonator.

[Example 6]
Thin film acoustic resonators were fabricated as described in FIGS. 3 to 5 and 9 to 10.

  First, the structure shown in FIG. 5 was obtained in the same manner as in Example 5. However, by selecting the abrasive particles, the surface roughness of the PSG sacrificial layer 55 remaining in the recess 52 was set such that the RMS fluctuation of the height was 10 nm.

Next, as shown in FIG. 9, an insulator layer 54 made of a Si ₃ N ₄ film having a thickness of 500 nm was formed on the substrate so as to cover the surface of the PSG sacrificial layer 55. The insulator layer 54 made of the Si ₃ N ₄ film was deposited at 800 ° C. by low pressure CVD using monosilane (SiH ₄ ) and ammonia (NH ₃ ) as raw materials. When the surface roughness of the formed insulator layer 54 was measured, the RMS fluctuation of the height was 12 nm.

  Next, a lower electrode 61 made of a Mo film was formed on the insulator layer 54 in the same manner as in Example 5 as shown in FIG. When the surface roughness of the formed Mo film was measured, the RMS fluctuation of the height was 17 nm.

  Next, in the same manner as in Example 5, a piezoelectric layer 62 made of an AlN film was formed on the lower electrode 61. When the surface roughness of the formed AlN film was measured, the RMS fluctuation of the height was 15 nm which is 5% or less of the film thickness.

  Next, an upper electrode 63 made of a Mo film was formed on the piezoelectric layer 62 in the same manner as in Example 5. The surface of the upper electrode 63 was examined for undulation height at a measurement length of 150 μm, and was found to be 0.21 μm, which is 25% or less of the film thickness of the piezoelectric layer 62 and 0.5% or less of the measurement length.

  Next, in the same manner as in Example 3, the PSG sacrificial layer 55 is removed, and thereby, as shown in FIG. 10, the insulating layer 54 and the Mo / AlN / Mo sandwich structure on the recess 52 The laminated body with 60 formed the form bridged.

  When thin film XRD analysis of the obtained piezoelectric layer 62 was performed, the c-axis of the film was in the direction of 88.4 degrees with respect to the film surface, and as a result of examining the degree of orientation by a rocking curve, the half width of the peak ( FWHM) was 2.8 degrees, indicating good orientation.

For the acoustic resonator obtained as described above, the impedance characteristic between the upper electrode 63 and the lower electrode 61 is measured using a microwave prober, and the resonance frequency fr and the antiresonance frequency fa are measured. Based on these measured values, the electromechanical coupling coefficient kt ² was calculated. The electromechanical coupling factor kt ² was 5.2% and the acoustic quality factor was 700. Table 1 shows the configuration of the FBAR obtained in Example 6 and the characteristics as an acoustic resonator.

[Example 7]
A thin film acoustic resonator was fabricated as described in FIGS.

First, the surface of the Si wafer 51 was covered with a SiO ₂ protective film, and the protective film was formed into a predetermined pattern for forming a recess by etching, and a mask for etching the Si wafer 51 was formed. Thereafter, wet etching was performed using the mask to form a recess having a depth of 20 μm as shown in FIG. Etching was performed at a liquid temperature of 70 ° C. using a 5 wt% KOH aqueous solution as an etchant. The depth of the recess may be 3 μm.

Thereafter, the SiO ₂ layer 53 was formed again on the surface of the wafer 51 by thermal oxidation. As a result, a structure in which the recess 52 was formed on the substrate composed of the Si wafer 51 and the SiO ₂ layer 53 was obtained.

Thereafter, a Cr film was formed on the surface (upper surface) of the substrate, and pattern etching was performed so as to leave only a portion surrounding the periphery of the recess 52 in the Cr film. As a result, as shown in FIG. 16, the contact electrode layer 161 made of a Cr film was formed so as to surround the periphery of the recess 52. The Cr film was formed by using a DC magnetron sputtering method, using Ar as the sputtering gas, and setting the substrate temperature to room temperature. The Cr adhesion electrode layer 161 was formed so that the area (S1) of a plane serving as a contact surface with the lower electrode layer on the upper surface was 4500 μm ² and the film thickness was 100 nm.

Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 17, PSG is deposited at 450 ° C. using silane and phosphine (PH ₃ ) on the SiO ₂ layer 53 and the Cr adhesion electrode layer 61 in which the recess 52 is formed. I let you. The deposited PSG layer may be heat-treated at 850 ° C. for 20 minutes in a 1% oxygen / nitrogen mixed atmosphere to reflow to increase the hardness.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 18, the surface of the deposited PSG is polished to remove the portion of the PSG layer on the adhesion electrode layer 161, and then the surface of the PSG layer 55 includes fine abrasive particles. Polishing was performed using slurry, and the surface of the Cr adhesion electrode layer 161 was cleaned by reverse sputtering. As a result, the surface of the PSG sacrificial layer 55 had a surface roughness with an RMS fluctuation of 8 nm.

Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 19, a lower electrode layer 162 made of Au was formed on the Cr adhesion electrode layer 161 and the PSG sacrificial layer 55. A lift-off method was employed for patterning the lower electrode layer 162, and a lower electrode layer 162 having a predetermined shape having an outer peripheral edge corresponding to the outer peripheral edge of the Cr adhesion electrode layer 161 was obtained. The Au film was formed by using a DC magnetron sputtering method, using Ar as a sputtering gas, and setting the substrate temperature to room temperature. The lower electrode layer 162 was formed to have a planar area (S2) of 27225 μm ² and a film thickness of 100 nm. As a result of examining the surface roughness of the obtained Au film, the RMS fluctuation of the height was 7 nm.

Next, the PSG sacrificial layer remaining around the lower electrode layer 162 was removed, and a piezoelectric thin film layer 163 made of ZnO was formed on the lower electrode layer 162. The formation of the ZnO film is performed using an RF magnetron sputtering method, using ZnO as a sputtering target, using an Ar—O ₂ mixed gas of 9: 1 Ar: O ₂ as a sputtering gas, a sputtering gas pressure of 5 mTorr, and a substrate temperature. Was carried out at 400 ° C. The thickness of the ZnO film was 1.0 μm. As a result of examining the surface roughness of the obtained ZnO film, the RMS fluctuation of the height was 4 nm.

  Subsequently, the ZnO piezoelectric thin film layer 163 is wet-etched to have a predetermined shape having outer peripheral edges corresponding to the outer peripheral edge of the Cr adhesion electrode layer 161 and the outer peripheral edge of the lower electrode layer 162 except for the opening necessary for extracting the coupling electrode. Patterned. Then, an upper electrode layer 164 made of Au was formed on the ZnO piezoelectric thin film 163. The upper electrode layer 164 was patterned by a lift-off method so as to have a predetermined shape such that the outer peripheral edge was inside the inner peripheral edge of the Cr adhesion electrode layer 161 (see FIG. 21). The Au film was formed by using a DC magnetron sputtering method, using Ar as a sputtering gas, and setting the substrate temperature to room temperature. The film thickness of the Au film was 100 nm.

Next, by RIE (reactive ion etching), a small portion penetrates from the periphery of the upper electrode layer 164 downward to the sacrificial layer 55 through the upper electrode layer 164, the piezoelectric thin film layer 163, and the lower electrode layer 162. The PSG sacrificial layer 55 was removed by drilling and etching with diluted H ₂ O: HF solution. As a result, as shown in FIG. 20, a structure in which a Cr / Au / ZnO / Au sandwich structure 60 was bridged on the recess 52 was formed. When the obtained sandwich structure 60 was subjected to a peeling test using a scotch tape, no peeling from the substrate was observed.

  As a result of conducting a thin film XRD analysis on the obtained ZnO piezoelectric thin film layer 163, the c-axis of the film is in the direction of 88.6 degrees with respect to the film plane, and as a result of examining the orientation degree by a rocking curve, ( The 0002) peak had a full width at half maximum (FWHM) of 2.3 degrees, indicating good orientation.

20 and 21, the impedance between the upper electrode layer 164, the lower electrode layer 162, and the contact electrode layer 161 is obtained using a microwave prober. While measuring the characteristics, the resonance frequency fr and the anti-resonance frequency fa were measured, and the electromechanical coupling coefficient k _t ² was calculated based on these measured values. At this time, the spurious was not excited, the electromechanical coupling coefficient coefficient k _t ² was 5.5%, and the acoustic quality coefficient was 1145. Table 2 shows the structure of the FBAR obtained in Example 7, the adhesion strength, and the characteristics as an acoustic resonator.

[Example 8]
A thin film acoustic resonator was fabricated in the same manner as in Example 7, except that the contact electrode layer 161 was made of Ti instead of Cr. The Ti film was formed using a DC magnetron sputtering method, using Ti as a sputtering target, using Ar as a sputtering gas, and setting the substrate temperature to room temperature. The thickness of the Ti film was 20 nm. As a result of examining the surface roughness of the obtained ZnO piezoelectric thin film layer 163, the RMS fluctuation of the height was 9 nm. When a peeling test using a scotch tape was performed, no peeling between the substrate and the sandwich structure 60 was observed. Further, as a result of thin film XRD analysis, the c-axis of the ZnO piezoelectric thin film layer 163 is in the direction of 89.2 degrees with respect to the film surface, and as a result of examining the degree of orientation by a rocking curve, the half width of the peak is The orientation was as good as 2.1 degrees.

The thin film acoustic resonator thus obtained had no spurious excitation, an electromechanical coupling coefficient k _t ² of 5.9%, and an acoustic quality factor of 772. Table 2 shows the structure, adhesion strength, and acoustic resonator characteristics of the FBAR obtained in Example 8.

[Example 9]
A thin film acoustic resonator was fabricated in the same manner as in Example 7, except that the lower electrode layer 162 and the upper electrode layer 164 were made of Pt instead of Au, and the thickness of the Cr adhesion electrode layer 161 was 60 nm. . The Pt film was formed using a DC magnetron sputtering method, using Pt as a sputtering target, using Ar as a sputtering gas, and setting the substrate temperature to room temperature. The thickness of the Pt film was 100 nm. As a result of examining the surface roughness of the obtained ZnO piezoelectric thin film layer 163, the RMS fluctuation of the height was 6 nm. When a peeling test using a scotch tape was performed, no peeling between the substrate and the sandwich structure 60 was observed. Further, as a result of thin film XRD analysis, the c-axis of the ZnO piezoelectric thin film layer 163 is in the direction of 88.8 degrees with respect to the film surface, and as a result of examining the orientation degree by a rocking curve, the half width of the peak is The orientation was as good as 2.5 degrees.

The thin film acoustic resonator thus obtained had no spurious excitation, the electromechanical coupling coefficient k _t ² was 5.2%, and the acoustic quality factor was 898. Table 2 shows the structure, adhesion strength, and characteristics as an acoustic resonator of the FBAR obtained in Example 9.

[Example 10]
The contact electrode layer 161 is made of Ni instead of Cr, the plane area S1 is expanded to 15000 μm ² and the ratio S1 / S2 to the plane area S2 of the lower electrode layer 162 is set to 0.55, A thin film acoustic resonator was produced in the same manner as in Example 7. The Ni film was formed using a DC magnetron sputtering method, using Ni as a sputtering target, using Ar as a sputtering gas, and setting the substrate temperature to room temperature. The film thickness of the Ni film was 50 nm. As a result of examining the surface roughness of the obtained ZnO piezoelectric thin film layer 163, the RMS fluctuation of the height was 11 nm. When a peeling test using a scotch tape was performed, no peeling between the substrate and the sandwich structure 60 was observed. Further, as a result of thin film XRD analysis, the c-axis of the ZnO piezoelectric thin film layer 163 is in the direction of 89.0 degrees with respect to the film surface, and as a result of examining the orientation degree by a rocking curve, the half width of the peak is It showed a good orientation of 2.9 degrees.

The thin film acoustic resonator thus obtained had no spurious excitation, the electromechanical coupling coefficient k _t ² was 4.8%, and the acoustic quality factor was 707. Table 2 shows the structure, adhesion strength, and acoustic resonator characteristics of the FBAR obtained in Example 10.

[Example 11]
The upper and lower electrode layers 162 and 164 are made of Pt instead of Au, the piezoelectric thin film layer 163 is made of AlN instead of ZnO, and the planar area S1 of the Ti adhesion electrode layer 161 is 4000 μm ^2. A thin film acoustic resonator was fabricated in the same manner as in Example 8 except that the thickness was 30 nm. The Pt film was formed in the same manner as in Example 9. The AlN film is formed by RF magnetron sputtering, using Al as a sputtering target, using an Ar—N ₂ mixed gas of Ar: N ₂ of 1: 1 as a sputtering gas, and a substrate temperature of 400 ° C. It was. The thickness of the AlN film was 1.4 μm. As a result of examining the surface roughness of the obtained AlN film, the RMS fluctuation of the height was 7 nm. When a peeling test using a scotch tape was performed, no peeling between the substrate and the sandwich structure 60 was observed. Further, as a result of thin film XRD analysis, the c-axis of the AlN piezoelectric thin film layer 163 is in the direction of 90.0 degrees with respect to the film surface, and as a result of examining the orientation degree by a rocking curve, the half width of the peak is The orientation was as good as 2.7 degrees.

The thin film acoustic resonator thus obtained had no spurious excitation, had an electromechanical coupling coefficient k _t ² of 6.4% and an acoustic quality factor of 984. Table 2 shows the structure, adhesion strength, and characteristics as an acoustic resonator of the FBAR obtained in Example 11.

[Example 12]
The contact electrode layer 161 is made of Cr, the upper and lower electrode layers 162 and 164 are made of Mo, and the Cr contact electrode layer 161 has a planar area S1 of 5000 μm ² and a thickness of 40 nm. Produced a thin film acoustic resonator in the same manner as in Example 11. As a result of examining the surface roughness of the obtained AlN film, the RMS fluctuation of the height was 5 nm. When a peeling test using a scotch tape was performed, no peeling between the substrate and the sandwich structure 60 was observed. As a result of thin film XRD analysis, the c-axis of the AlN piezoelectric thin film layer 163 is in the direction of 89.8 degrees with respect to the film surface, and as a result of examining the orientation degree by a rocking curve, the half width of the peak is It showed a good orientation of 2.9 degrees.

The thin film acoustic resonator thus obtained had no spurious excitation, the electromechanical coupling factor k _t ² was 6.1%, and the acoustic quality factor was 1140. Table 2 shows the structure, adhesion strength, and characteristics as an acoustic resonator of the FBAR obtained in Example 12.

[Comparative Example 4]
PSG is deposited on a structure in which a recess 52 is formed on a substrate composed of a Si wafer 51 and a SiO ₂ layer 53, and the surface is polished to remove the portion of the PSG layer other than the recess 52. The surface of the PSG layer in the region 52 is roughened so that the RMS fluctuation of the height is 38 nm, a Cr film and an Au film are formed on the surface roughness, and these films are patterned into the same shape. A thin-film acoustic resonator was fabricated in the same manner as in Example 7 except that the configuration in which the layer 161 was bonded to the entire surface of the lower electrode layer 162 was obtained. As a result of examining the surface roughness of the obtained ZnO film, the RMS fluctuation of the height was 30 nm. When a peeling test using a scotch tape was performed, no peeling between the substrate and the sandwich structure 60 was observed. Further, as a result of thin film XRD analysis, the c-axis of the ZnO piezoelectric thin film layer 163 is in the direction of 87.5 degrees with respect to the film surface, and as a result of examining the orientation degree by a rocking curve, the half width of the peak is The deterioration was about 4.8 degrees and about 2.5 degrees as compared with Example 7.

The thin film acoustic resonator thus obtained was excited by spurious, had an electromechanical coupling factor k _t ² of 2.5%, and an acoustic quality factor of 404. Table 2 shows the structure, adhesion strength, and acoustic resonator characteristics of the FBAR obtained in Comparative Example 4.

[Comparative Example 5]
A thin film acoustic resonator was fabricated in the same manner as in Comparative Example 4 except that the adhesion electrode layer 161 was not provided. However, the surface of the PSG layer in the region of the depression 52 was made to have a surface roughness such that the RMS fluctuation of the height was 33 nm. As a result of examining the surface roughness of the obtained ZnO film, the RMS fluctuation of the height was 23 nm. As a result of thin film XRD analysis, the c-axis of the ZnO piezoelectric thin film layer 163 is in the direction of 88.4 degrees with respect to the film surface. As a result of examining the degree of orientation by a rocking curve, the half width of the peak is 4. In the peeling test using a scotch tape, peeling between the substrate and the sandwich structure 60 was observed.

The thin film acoustic resonator thus obtained was excited by spurious, had an electromechanical coupling factor k _t ² of 3.2, and an acoustic quality factor of 446. Table 2 shows the structure, adhesion strength, and characteristics of the acoustic resonator of the FBAR obtained in Comparative Example 5.

[Examples 13 to 15]
In this example, a piezoelectric thin film resonator having the structure shown in FIGS. 22 and 23 was manufactured as follows.

That is, a silicon oxide (SiO ₂ ) layer having a thickness of 0.3 to 0.6 μm was formed on the upper and lower surfaces of the (100) Si substrate 112 having a thickness of 250 μm by a thermal oxidation method. The SiO ₂ layer on the upper surface side was used as the insulating layer 13. The SiO ₂ layer on the lower surface side was formed in a mask pattern for forming a via hole to be described later on the substrate 112.

  A Mo layer having a thickness of 0.1 μm was formed on the surface of the insulating layer 13 by DC magnetron sputtering, and patterned by photolithography to form the lower electrode 15. The main portion 15a of the lower electrode 15 has a shape close to a rectangle with a plane size of 140 × 160 μm. On the Mo lower electrode 15, an AlN thin film having a thickness of 1.3 to 2.0 μm with a crystal plane oriented in the C axis was formed. The AlN thin film was formed by a reactive RF magnetron sputtering method. The piezoelectric film 16 was formed by patterning the AlN thin film into a predetermined shape by wet etching using hot phosphoric acid. Thereafter, an upper electrode 17 made of Mo having a thickness of 0.1 μm was formed by using a DC magnetron sputtering method and a lift-off method. The main body portion 17a of the upper electrode 17 has a shape close to a rectangle having a planar size of 140 × 160 μm and is disposed at a position corresponding to the lower electrode main body portion 15a.

Next, the pattern-like SiO ₂ formed on the lower surface of the Si substrate 112 by covering the side where the upper and lower electrodes 15 and 17 and the piezoelectric film 16 are formed with the PMMA resin. Using the layer as a mask, the portion of the Si substrate 112 corresponding to the vibrating portion 121 was removed by etching with a KOH aqueous solution to form a via hole 120 serving as a void. The dimension of the via hole opening formed on the upper surface of the Si substrate 112 (planar dimension of the vibration part 21) was 200 × 200 μm.

With respect to the thin film piezoelectric resonator (FBAR) obtained by the above steps, the impedance characteristics between the electrode terminals 15b and 17b of the thin film piezoelectric resonator are measured using a microwave prober and a network analyzer manufactured by Cascade Microtech. together, from the measured values of the resonance frequency f _r and the antiresonance frequency f _a, it was determined electromechanical coupling coefficient k _t ² and the frequency temperature characteristic tau _f and the acoustic quality factor Q. Table 3 shows the fundamental frequency of thickness vibration, electromechanical coupling coefficient k _t ² , frequency temperature characteristic τ _f and acoustic quality factor Q of the obtained piezoelectric thin film resonator.

[Examples 16 to 18]
In this example, a piezoelectric thin film resonator having the structure shown in FIGS. 24 and 25 was manufactured as follows.

That is, after the formation of the upper electrode 17 and before the formation of the via hole 120, a SiO ₂ layer having a thickness of 0.1 to 0.3 μm is formed on the upper electrode 17 by RF magnetron sputtering, and the vibrating portion 121 is formed. Except that the upper insulating layer 18 is formed by patterning so as to correspond to the above, and the thickness of the lower insulating layer 13 and the thickness of the piezoelectric film 16 are set as shown in Table 3. The same steps as in Examples 13-15 were performed.

For the thin film piezoelectric resonator (FBAR) obtained by the above steps, the basic frequency of thickness vibration of the piezoelectric thin film resonator, the electromechanical coupling coefficient k _t ² , the frequency temperature characteristic τ _f, and the like, as in Examples 13-15. The acoustic quality factor Q was as shown in Table 3.

[Examples 19 to 22]
In this example, the piezoelectric thin film resonator having the structure shown in FIGS. 26 and 27 and the piezoelectric thin film resonator having the structure shown in FIGS. 28 and 29 were manufactured as follows.

  That is, the thickness of the upper and lower insulating layers 13 and 18 and the thickness of the piezoelectric film 16 are set as shown in Table 3, and the shapes and dimensions of the upper and lower electrodes 15 and 17 are excluded. The same steps [Examples 19 and 20] as Examples 13 to 15 and the same steps [Examples 21 and 22] as Examples 16 to 18 were performed. The lower electrode 15 has a rectangular shape with a planar size of 150 × 300 μm extending so as to include a region corresponding to the vibrating portion 121, and the upper electrode 17 has a main portion 17Aa having a shape close to a rectangular with a planar size of 70 × 90 μm, respectively. 17Ba was arranged with an interval of 20 μm.

About the thin film piezoelectric resonator (FBAR) obtained by the above process, the basic frequency of the thickness vibration of the piezoelectric thin film resonator, the electromechanical coupling coefficient k _t ² , as in Examples 13 to 15 and Examples 16 to 18. The frequency-temperature characteristic τ _f and the acoustic quality factor Q were as shown in Table 3.

[Examples 23 to 25]
In this example, the piezoelectric thin film resonator having the structure shown in FIGS. 22 and 23 and the piezoelectric thin film resonator having the structure shown in FIGS. 24 and 25 were manufactured as follows.

  That is, the same steps as those in Example 13 [Examples 23 and 24] except that the thickness of the piezoelectric film 16 and the thickness of the upper and lower insulating layers 13 and 18 are set as shown in Table 3. The same step [Example 25] as that of Example 16 was performed.

About the thin film piezoelectric resonator (FBAR) obtained by the above steps, the basic frequency of thickness vibration of the piezoelectric thin film resonator, the electromechanical coupling coefficient k _t ² , and the frequency temperature characteristic τ are the same as in Example 13 and Example 16. _f and the acoustic quality factor Q were as shown in Table 3.

[Comparative Examples 6 and 7]
Example 13 except that aluminum (Al) is used instead of Mo as the material of the upper and lower electrode layers, and the thickness of the piezoelectric film 16 and the thickness of the insulating layer 13 are as shown in Table 3. The same process was carried out.

With respect to the thin film piezoelectric resonator (FBAR) obtained by the above steps, the basic frequency of thickness vibration of the piezoelectric thin film resonator, the electromechanical coupling coefficient k _t ² , the frequency temperature characteristic τ _f, and the acoustic characteristics were obtained in the same manner as in Example 13. The quality factor Q was as shown in Table 3.

[Comparative Example 8]
A process similar to that in Example 13 was performed except that the insulating layer 13 was formed only outside the region corresponding to the vibration part 121.

With respect to the thin film piezoelectric resonator (FBAR) obtained by the above steps, the basic frequency of thickness vibration of the piezoelectric thin film resonator, the electromechanical coupling coefficient k _t ² , the frequency temperature characteristic τ _f, and the acoustic characteristics were obtained in the same manner as in Example 13. The quality factor Q was as shown in Table 3.

[Comparative Examples 9 and 10]
Implementation was performed except that zinc oxide (ZnO) was used as the material of the piezoelectric film 16 instead of AlN, and the thickness of the piezoelectric film 16 and the thickness of the insulating layer 13 were as shown in Table 3. The same process as in Example 13 was performed.

With respect to the thin film piezoelectric resonator (FBAR) obtained by the above steps, the basic frequency of thickness vibration of the piezoelectric thin film resonator, the electromechanical coupling coefficient k _t ² , the frequency temperature characteristic τ _f, and the acoustic characteristics were obtained in the same manner as in Example 13. The quality factor Q was as shown in Table 3.

  From the above results, the temperature coefficient of the resonance frequency of the vibration part including a part of the piezoelectric laminated structure composed of the electrode mainly composed of molybdenum and the piezoelectric film mainly composed of aluminum nitride is different from the temperature coefficient. By adding an insulating layer composed mainly of silicon oxide having a temperature coefficient to the piezoelectric multilayer structure, a piezoelectric with excellent resonance frequency temperature stability while maintaining the electromechanical coupling coefficient and the acoustic quality factor. A thin film resonator can be realized, and in particular, when applied to a VCO (piezoelectric thin film resonator), a filter, and a transmission / reception switch used in a high frequency range of 1 GHz or more, its performance can be remarkably improved.

  As described above, according to the present invention, the first electrode is directly or via an insulator layer on the surface of the sacrificial layer that is smooth when viewed at an atomic level such that the RMS fluctuation of the height is 25 nm or less, preferably 20 nm or less. And the surface of the first electrode is made to have a RMS fluctuation of 25 nm or less, preferably 20 nm or less, and a piezoelectric layer is formed thereon, so that the crystallinity of the first electrode is improved. Accordingly, the orientation and crystal quality of the piezoelectric layer are remarkably improved, thereby providing a high-performance thin film acoustic resonator excellent in electromechanical coupling coefficient and acoustic quality factor.

  Further, as described above, according to the present invention, the contact electrode layer is provided between the lower electrode layer and the substrate, and the contact electrode layer is bonded to the substrate around the recess formed in the substrate. As a result, the occurrence of lateral vibrations in the thin film acoustic resonator is suppressed, and excessive spurious vibrations are prevented from overlapping the vibration of the thin film acoustic resonator, and the resonance characteristics and quality factor of the thin film acoustic resonator and filter are improved. The In addition, since there is no contact electrode layer below the center portion of the lower electrode layer (that is, the inner portion surrounded by the contact electrode layer), the center portion of the lower electrode layer is placed on the surface of the sacrificial layer with extremely high smoothness. The piezoelectric thin film layer having excellent orientation and crystal quality can be formed based on this, and the electromechanical coupling coefficient and acoustic quality factor (Q value) are excellent. A high performance thin film acoustic resonator is provided. Furthermore, by using the close contact electrode layer, the adhesion (bonding strength) between the lower electrode layer and the substrate can be improved, the range of material selection for the lower electrode layer is widened, and the durability of the thin film acoustic resonator is improved. It is possible to improve and extend the service life.

  Further, as described above, according to the piezoelectric thin film resonator of the present invention, the electrode mainly composed of molybdenum, the piezoelectric film mainly composed of aluminum nitride, and the insulating layer mainly composed of silicon oxide or silicon nitride. Therefore, the electromechanical coupling coefficient, acoustic quality factor (Q value), and frequency temperature characteristics can be improved.

It is typical sectional drawing for demonstrating the basic composition of FBAR which is a thin film acoustic resonator by this invention. It is typical sectional drawing for demonstrating the basic composition of SBAR which is a thin film acoustic resonator by this invention. It is typical sectional drawing for demonstrating the manufacturing method of FBAR which is a thin film acoustic resonator by this invention, and embodiment of FBAR obtained by it. It is typical sectional drawing for demonstrating the manufacturing method of FBAR which is a thin film acoustic resonator by this invention, and embodiment of FBAR obtained by it. It is typical sectional drawing for demonstrating the manufacturing method of FBAR which is a thin film acoustic resonator by this invention, and embodiment of FBAR obtained by it. It is typical sectional drawing for demonstrating the manufacturing method of FBAR which is a thin film acoustic resonator by this invention, and embodiment of FBAR obtained by it. It is a typical top view for demonstrating the manufacturing method of FBAR which is a thin film acoustic resonator by this invention, and embodiment of FBAR obtained by it. It is typical sectional drawing for demonstrating the manufacturing method of FBAR which is a thin film acoustic resonator by this invention, and embodiment of FBAR obtained by it. It is typical sectional drawing for demonstrating the manufacturing method of FBAR which is a thin film acoustic resonator by this invention, and embodiment of FBAR obtained by it. It is typical sectional drawing for demonstrating the manufacturing method of FBAR which is a thin film acoustic resonator by this invention, and embodiment of FBAR obtained by it. It is typical sectional drawing for demonstrating the manufacturing method of FBAR which is a thin film acoustic resonator by this invention, and embodiment of FBAR obtained by it. It is a top view of the manufacturing method of FBAR which is a thin film acoustic resonator by this invention, and the upper electrode of FBAR obtained by it. It is typical sectional drawing of FBAR by this invention. It is typical sectional drawing of SBAR by this invention. It is typical sectional drawing for demonstrating FBAR and its manufacturing method by this invention. It is typical sectional drawing for demonstrating FBAR and its manufacturing method by this invention. It is typical sectional drawing for demonstrating FBAR and its manufacturing method by this invention. It is typical sectional drawing for demonstrating FBAR and its manufacturing method by this invention. It is typical sectional drawing for demonstrating FBAR and its manufacturing method by this invention. It is typical sectional drawing for demonstrating FBAR and its manufacturing method by this invention. It is a schematic plan view for demonstrating FBAR and its manufacturing method by this invention. 1 is a schematic plan view showing an embodiment of a piezoelectric thin film resonator according to the present invention. It is XX sectional drawing of FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view showing an embodiment of a piezoelectric thin film resonator according to the present invention. It is XX sectional drawing of FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view showing an embodiment of a piezoelectric thin film resonator according to the present invention. It is XX sectional drawing of FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view showing an embodiment of a piezoelectric thin film resonator according to the present invention. It is XX sectional drawing of FIG.

Claims (20)

A piezoelectric laminate structure formed on the substrate, and a vibrating portion is configured to include a part of the piezoelectric laminate structure, the piezoelectric laminate structure including a lower electrode and a piezoelectric Piezoelectric thin film resonance in which a body film and an upper electrode are laminated in this order from the substrate side, and the substrate forms a gap allowing vibration of the vibrating portion in a region corresponding to the vibrating portion. In the child
The piezoelectric film is mainly composed of aluminum nitride, the lower electrode and the upper electrode are both composed mainly of molybdenum, and the vibrating portion is bonded to the upper surface of the piezoelectric multilayer structure. An upper insulating layer and a lower insulating layer bonded to the lower surface of the piezoelectric multilayer structure,
The upper insulating layer and the lower insulating layer are both mainly composed of silicon oxide,
The thickness t of the piezoelectric film and the total thickness t ′ of the upper insulating layer and the lower insulating layer satisfy the relationship of 0.21 ≦ t ′ / t ≦ 0.31. Piezoelectric thin film resonator. The piezoelectric thin film resonator according to claim 1 , wherein the lower insulating layer has a thickness of 50 to 1000 nm. The piezoelectric thin film resonator according to claim 2 , wherein the lower insulating layer has a thickness of 100 to 300 nm. The piezoelectric thin film resonator according to claim 1 , wherein the upper insulating layer has a thickness of 80 to 300 nm. 5. The piezoelectric thin film according to claim 1 , wherein the lower insulating layer is formed on the surface of the substrate so as to straddle the gap, and an edge portion of the lower insulating layer is supported by the substrate. Resonator. The piezoelectric thin film resonator according to claim 1 , wherein the upper insulating layer and the lower insulating layer have a silicon oxide content of 50 equivalent% or more. 7. The piezoelectric thin film resonator according to claim 1 , wherein the surface of the lower electrode on the piezoelectric film side has an RMS fluctuation in height of 20 nm or less. 8. The piezoelectric thin film resonator according to claim 7 , wherein the surface of the piezoelectric film on the upper electrode side has an RMS variation in height of 5% or less of the thickness of the piezoelectric film. 9. 9. The piezoelectric thin film resonator according to claim 8 , wherein the undulation height of the surface of the upper electrode is 25% or less of the thickness of the piezoelectric film. The piezoelectric thin film resonator according to claim 1 , wherein the upper electrode has a central portion and an outer peripheral portion thicker than the central portion. The piezoelectric thin film resonator according to claim 10 , wherein the outer peripheral portion is positioned in a frame shape around the central portion. The piezoelectric thin film resonator according to any one of claims 10 to 11 , wherein the upper electrode has a thickness variation of 1% or less of the thickness of the central portion. 13. The piezoelectric thin film resonator according to claim 10 , wherein a thickness of the outer peripheral portion is 1.1 times or more a height of the central portion. 14. The piezoelectric thin film resonator according to claim 10 , wherein the outer peripheral portion is located within a range of a distance from the outer edge of the upper electrode to 40 μm. The piezoelectric thin film resonator according to any one of claims 10 to 14 , wherein a waviness height of a surface of the central portion is 25% or less of a thickness of the piezoelectric film. The piezoelectric thin film resonator according to claim 1 , wherein the piezoelectric film has a content of the aluminum nitride of 90 equivalent% or more. The piezoelectric thin film resonator according to claim 1 , wherein the lower electrode and the upper electrode have a molybdenum content of 80 equivalent% or more. The piezoelectric thin film resonator according to claim 1 , wherein the substrate is made of a silicon single crystal. The piezoelectric thin-film resonator according to claim 1 , wherein the upper electrode includes a first electrode portion and a second electrode portion that are formed apart from each other. The electromechanical coupling coefficient obtained from the measured values of the resonance frequency and the antiresonance frequency in the vicinity of 2.0 GHz is 4.0 to 6.5%, the acoustic quality factor is 750 to 2000, and the temperature coefficient of the resonance frequency is The piezoelectric thin film resonator according to any one of claims 1 to 19 , wherein the piezoelectric thin film resonator is -20 to 20 ppm / ° C.

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