Background
With the development of wireless communication applications, the requirements of data transmission speed are increasing. In the field of mobile communication, the first generation is an analog technology, the second generation realizes digital voice communication, the third generation (3G) is characterized by multimedia communication, the fourth generation (4G) improves the communication rate to 1Gbps, the time delay is reduced to 10ms, the fifth generation (5G) is a new generation mobile communication technology after 4G, and although the technical specification and standard of the 5G are not completely clear, the network transmission rate and network capacity are greatly improved compared with those of the 3G and the 4G. If the communication between people is mainly solved from 1G to 4G, 5G can solve the communication between people and objects except people, namely, everything is interconnected, so that 'information is random, everything is feeler and' wish is realized.
Corresponding to the rise in data rate is the high utilization of spectrum resources and the complexity of communication protocols. Because of the limited frequency spectrum, in order to meet the data rate requirements, the frequency spectrum must be fully utilized; meanwhile, in order to meet the requirement of data rate, a carrier aggregation technology is also used from 4G, so that one device can transmit data by using different carrier spectrums at the same time. On the other hand, in order to support a sufficient data transmission rate within a limited bandwidth, communication protocols are becoming more and more complex, and thus strict demands are also being made on various performances of radio frequency systems.
In the rf front-end module, the rf filter plays a vital role. The method can filter out-of-band interference and noise to meet the signal-to-noise ratio requirements of radio frequency systems and communication protocols. As communication protocols become more complex, the requirements for the inside and outside of the frequency band become higher, making the design of filters more challenging. In addition, as the number of frequency bands that the mobile phone needs to support increases, the number of filters that need to be used in each mobile phone also increases.
The most dominant implementations of radio frequency filters today are surface acoustic wave filters and filters based on thin film bulk acoustic resonator technology. The film bulk acoustic resonator is mainly used for high frequency (such as frequency band more than 2.5 GHz), and has complex manufacturing process and high cost. The surface acoustic wave filter is mainly used for medium and low frequency (such as frequency band smaller than 2.5 GHz), the manufacturing process is relatively simple, the cost is much lower than that of the film bulk acoustic wave resonator, and the surface acoustic wave filter is relatively easy to be accepted by the market.
There are many structures and fabrication methods of temperature compensated saw resonators and thin film bulk acoustic resonators. The prior structure and the prior preparation method are relatively mature. For temperature compensated SAW resonators, the conventional approach is to deposit a layer of silicon dioxide (SiO) on the Interdigital (IDT) surface 2 ) The amorphous silicon dioxide film has negative temperature coefficient and can exactly counteract the piezoelectric substratePositive temperature coefficient. The conventional method for preparing the cavity type film bulk acoustic resonator is to first perform the cavity on the substrate and then fill the substrate with the sacrificial layer material. Next, a bottom electrode material is deposited and then etched to form the desired bottom electrode shape, on the basis of which the piezoelectric layer is again deposited and etched also on top of the electrode material. And finally, carrying out wet etching on the sacrificial layer material through the through hole. How to combine the temperature-compensated surface acoustic wave resonator and the film bulk acoustic wave resonator to fully play a larger range of frequency adjustment effect has not been studied at present.
Disclosure of Invention
The invention aims at overcoming the defects of the prior art, and provides a novel surface acoustic wave and cavity type film bulk acoustic wave combined resonator based on temperature compensation and a preparation method thereof. First, a temperature-compensated surface acoustic wave resonator is prepared, and then a cavity-type thin film bulk acoustic wave resonator is formed on the temperature-compensated layer. Specifically, the scheme of the invention is as follows:
the combined resonator is characterized by comprising a piezoelectric material substrate, metal interdigital, a temperature compensation layer and a piezoelectric unit which are stacked in sequence; the piezoelectric device comprises a piezoelectric material substrate, a temperature compensation layer, a piezoelectric unit and a temperature compensation layer, wherein the metal interdigital is formed above the piezoelectric material substrate, the temperature compensation layer covers the metal interdigital, a cavity is formed on the upper surface of the temperature compensation layer, the upper surface of the cavity is completely covered by the piezoelectric unit, the piezoelectric unit is formed above the temperature compensation layer, and comprises a stack structure formed by a first electrode, the piezoelectric layer and a second electrode, wherein the first electrode is arranged above the cavity and completely covers the cavity.
Further, the material of the piezoelectric material substrate comprises lithium niobate, lithium tantalate, aluminum nitride, zinc oxide or a combination thereof.
Further, the material of the metal fingers comprises aluminum, titanium, copper, chromium, silver or a combination thereof, and/or the material of the temperature compensation layer comprises silicon dioxide.
Further, the material of the piezoelectric layer comprises aluminum nitride (AlN), zinc oxide (ZnO), lithium niobate (LiNbO 3), lithium tantalate (LiTaO 3) or a combination thereof
Further, the second electrode includes a metal region, a transition region, and a dielectric region, the metal region and the piezoelectric layer, the first electrode form a first piezoelectric region, the transition region and the piezoelectric layer, the first electrode form a second piezoelectric region, the dielectric region and the piezoelectric layer, the second electrode form a third piezoelectric region, the sum of the mass difference between the metal region and the transition region, and the mass difference between the transition region and the dielectric region is selected to be suitable for reducing energy loss caused by acoustic wave radiation emitted from the combined resonator.
Further, the mass difference between the metal region and the transition region is 2% to 3%, and the mass difference between the transition region and the dielectric region is 1% to 15%.
A method of manufacturing a composite resonator, comprising the steps of:
depositing a metal material on a piezoelectric material substrate;
patterning the metal material to form metal interdigital;
depositing a temperature compensation layer on the metal material, and enabling the temperature compensation layer to cover the metal interdigital;
patterning the temperature compensation layer to form a cavity structure;
depositing a sacrificial layer material on the surface of the temperature compensation layer, completely filling the cavity structure, and flattening the sacrificial layer material to form a sacrificial layer in the cavity;
depositing and patterning a piezoelectric unit on the sacrificial layer, wherein the piezoelectric unit comprises a stack structure formed by a first electrode, a piezoelectric layer and a second electrode;
and carrying out wet etching on the sacrificial layer in the cavity to form the cavity.
Further, the method also comprises the step of forming the metal fork guide electrode on the temperature compensation.
Further, the step of forming the metal fork guide electrode includes patterning the temperature compensation layer and depositing a metal material.
Further, the method also comprises the step of carrying out standard cleaning on the piezoelectric material substrate.
The surface acoustic wave and cavity type film bulk acoustic wave based combined resonator provided by the invention combines the surface acoustic wave resonator and the cavity type film bulk acoustic wave resonator, so that the combined resonator can effectively exert the performance advantages of the two resonators.
Detailed Description
The technical scheme of the invention is further described in detail through the drawings and the embodiments.
Example 1
Fig. 1 is a cross-sectional structure diagram of a combined resonator based on surface acoustic wave and cavity type thin film bulk acoustic wave according to an embodiment of the present invention, where the combined resonator includes a piezoelectric material substrate 100, and the material of the piezoelectric material substrate 100 may be lithium niobate, lithium tantalate, aluminum nitride, zinc oxide, or a combination thereof; a metal finger 200 formed over the substrate, the material of the metal finger 200 may be aluminum, titanium, copper, chromium, silver, etc., or a combination thereof; a temperature compensation layer 300 covering the metal fingers 200, wherein the material of the temperature compensation layer 300 can be silicon dioxide, etc.; the upper surface of the temperature compensation layer 300 is provided with a cavity 410, and the upper surface of the cavity 410 is completely covered by the piezoelectric unit; the piezoelectric unit is disposed above the temperature compensation layer, and the piezoelectric unit includes, for example, a first electrode 500, a piezoelectric layer 600, and a second electrode 700 stacked in sequence, where the material of the first electrode 500 and the second electrode 700 may be tungsten, molybdenum, platinum, ruthenium, iridium, titanium tungsten, aluminum, or a combination thereof; the material of the piezoelectric layer 600 is, for example, aluminum nitride (AlN), zinc oxide (ZnO), lithium niobate (LiNbO 3), lithium tantalate (LiTaO 3), or a combination thereof; also included are metal lead wires 810 that lead the metal fingers 200 to the surface of the temperature compensation layer 300, which may be made of gold, silver, copper, aluminum, or the like, or a combination thereof.
Example 2
The second electrode 700 is modified on the basis of embodiment 1, for example, the second electrode 700 includes a metal region 701, a transition region 702 and a dielectric region 703, the metal region 701 and the piezoelectric layer 600, the first electrode 500 constitute a first piezoelectric region A1, the transition region 702 and the piezoelectric layer 600, the first electrode 500 constitute a second piezoelectric region A2, the dielectric region 703 and the piezoelectric layer 600, the first electrode 500 constitute a third piezoelectric region A3, and the sum of the mass difference of the metal region and the transition region, the mass difference of the transition region and the dielectric region is selected to be suitable for reducing the energy loss caused by the acoustic wave radiation emitted from the combined resonator.
The transition region 702 is made of a metal material or a dielectric material, and if the transition region 702 is made of a metal material, the metal material is different from the metal material used in the metal region 701; if a dielectric material is used for the transition region 702, the dielectric material is different from that used for the dielectric region 703, and the quality difference between the transition region and the metal and dielectric regions is adjusted by the different material selected for the transition region.
In this embodiment, the mass difference between the metal region and the transition region is 2% to 3%, the mass difference between the transition region and the dielectric region is 1% to 15%, the mass difference between the metal region and the transition region, and the sum of the mass difference between the transition region and the dielectric region is 3% to 18%
There is a problem of a certain energy loss in the thin film bulk acoustic resonator, the energy loss is related to the specific structure of the second electrode 700, after the thin film bulk acoustic resonator is combined with the temperature-compensated surface acoustic wave resonator, the energy loss still has a certain influence on the combined resonator, and the magnitude of the influence is different according to the specific performance of the temperature-compensated surface acoustic wave resonator. Therefore, the structure of the second electrode 700 in the combined resonator is modified in this embodiment to divide the second electrode into a metal region 701, a transition region 702 and a dielectric region 703, wherein the metal region 701 uses a metal electrode material, and the material may be tungsten, molybdenum, platinum, ruthenium, iridium, titanium tungsten, aluminum, or the like, or a combination thereof; dielectric region 703 uses a dielectric material, which may be platinum, tantalum pentoxide, or a combination thereof; the transition region 702 may be formed using a metal electrode material or a dielectric material, such as tungsten, molybdenum, platinum, ruthenium, iridium, titanium tungsten, aluminum, or the like, or a combination thereof, if a metal material is used, or such as platinum, tantalum pentoxide, or a combination thereof, if a dielectric material is used, depending on the requirements of the device. The energy loss in the combined resonator is flexibly compensated through the transition region, and the mass difference among the metal region, the transition region and the dielectric region is adjusted, so that the mass difference between the metal electrode and the dielectric region is flexibly adjusted, and the energy loss in the resonator is effectively reduced.
Example 3
Fig. 2a to 2j are process flow diagrams for preparing a thin film bulk acoustic resonator based on surface acoustic wave and cavity in embodiment 1, the preparation flow includes:
a piezoelectric material substrate 100 is prepared and standard cleaning is performed as shown in fig. 2 a.
A metal material is deposited on the piezoelectric material substrate 100. The metal material can be one or the combination of metals such as aluminum, titanium, copper, gold, chromium, silver and the like, and the deposition process generally adopts electron beam evaporation, physical vapor deposition, atomic layer deposition, pulse laser deposition and the like; the metal material is patterned using a process commonly used in the art, such as photolithographic processing, to form metal fingers 200, as shown in fig. 2 b.
A temperature compensation layer 300 is deposited on the metal material such that the temperature compensation layer 300 covers the metal fingers 200, i.e., the temperature compensation layer 300 completely fills the gaps of the metal fingers 200. Further, the temperature compensation layer is planarized, for example, by a CMP step, as shown in fig. 2 c.
Patterning the temperature compensation layer 300 to form a cavity structure 310, as shown in fig. 2 d;
depositing a sacrificial layer material on the surface of the temperature compensation layer, completely filling the cavity structure 310, and performing planarization treatment on the sacrificial layer material to form a sacrificial layer 400 in the cavity, as shown in fig. 2 e;
the temperature compensation layer 300 is patterned to form metal lead vias 800, as shown in fig. 2 f.
A metal material 810 is deposited in the metal lead via, completely filling the metal lead via 800, and further subjected to a planarization process, as shown in fig. 2 g.
A first electrode 500 is deposited and patterned on the temperature compensation layer 300, wherein the material of the first electrode 500 comprises one of tungsten, molybdenum, platinum, ruthenium, iridium, titanium tungsten, aluminum, or a combination thereof, as shown in fig. 2 h.
A piezoelectric layer 600 is deposited on the first electrode 500 and patterned as shown in fig. 2 i. The material of the piezoelectric layer 600 includes one of aluminum nitride (AlN), zinc oxide (ZnO), lithium niobate (LiNbO 3), lithium tantalate (LiTaO 3), or a combination thereof.
A second electrode 700 is deposited on the piezoelectric layer 600 and patterned as shown in fig. 2 i.
The sacrificial layer 400 within the cavity is wet etched to form a cavity 410, as shown in fig. 2 j.
It should be further noted that example 3 of the present invention schematically illustrates the fabrication process of the device of the present invention, but the steps thereof, such as the step of forming the metal lead holes 800 and depositing the metal material 810, may be modified or adapted based on the knowledge of those skilled in the art, and may be performed after the piezoelectric unit is fabricated.
In the preparation method provided by the invention, the temperature-compensated surface acoustic wave resonator and the cavity type film bulk acoustic wave resonator are innovatively integrated in the same process step, so that the preparation method is more efficient from the process angle and more flexible from the product angle.
The above embodiments are only for illustrating the technical solution of the present invention and not for limiting the same, and although the present invention has been described in detail with reference to the preferred embodiments, it should be understood by those skilled in the art that modifications and equivalents may be made thereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the technical solution of the present invention.