Jean Desbois

Combined FEM and Green's function analysis of periodic SAW structure, application to the calculation of reflection and scattering parameters

Because of more and more stringent requirements on SAW filter performances, it is important to compute, with very good accuracy, the SAW propagation characteristics, which include the calculation of reflection and scattering parameters. For that reason, the analysis of periodic structures on a semi-infinite piezoelectric substrate is one of the most important problems being investigated by SAW researchers. For infinite periodic grating modeling, we developed numerical mixed FEM/BEM (finite element method-boundary element method) models using an efficient interpolation basis function that takes into account the singularity at both edges of each electrode. In this paper, a review of the numerical program that has been developed during the past few years will be presented. For an infinite periodic grating, it is convenient to solve the propagation problem in the Fourier domain (wave number space and harmonic excitation), and important efforts have been spent to properly integrate the so-called periodic harmonic Green function. Using this numerical model together with the general P-matrix formalism, it is possible to compute all of the basic parameters with a very good accuracy. These consist of the single strip reflectivity, acoustic wave-phase velocity, and position offset between reflection and transduction centers. Simulations and comparisons with experiments are shown for each model.

SSBW to PSAW conversion in SAW devices using heavy mechanical loading

The development of efficient computation tools based on mixed analytical and numerical calculation approaches allows precise descriptions and characterizations of surface acoustic waves (SAW) propagation, taking into account realistic electrical and mechanical boundary conditions. As an example, suppression of the leaky SAW, also called pseudo SAW (PSAW), attenuation has been predicted using such tools allowing to explain experimental occurrences for SAW devices on YX cut lithium niobate and lithium tantalate with thick aluminum strip gratings (6% < h//spl lambda/ < 10%). In this work, such a theoretical model is used to analyze the evolution of surface waves on standard YX lithium tantalate cuts versus aluminum strip height. It is shown that the surface skimming bulk wave (SSBW), which accompanies the pseudo SAW on such crystal orientations, may be trapped by the grating, exhibiting then a second pseudo SAW behavior when close to the Bragg condition. A device has been designed and fabricated to check these theoretical predictions. The experimental evidence of the existence of the phenomenon allows one to discuss its consequences on more classical devices built on (Y + 36/spl deg/, X) LiTaO/sub 3/ substrates.