A filter circuit is provided which allows the pass band to be tuned to a desired communication signal while achieving increased attenuation in a given frequency band that lies outside the pass band. A filter circuit includes a fixed filter and a tunable filter. The fixed filter has a pass band wider than a frequency band corresponding to a predetermined communication signal and overlapping with the frequency band corresponding to the communication signal. The tunable filter has a stop band narrower than the pass band of the fixed filter and having tunable frequency. The fixed filter and the tunable filter are connected in series.

A filter circuit is provided which allows the pass band to be tuned to a desired communication signal while achieving increased attenuation in a given frequency band that lies outside the pass band. A filter circuit includes a fixed filter and a tunable filter. The fixed filter has a pass band wider than a frequency band corresponding to a predetermined communication signal and overlapping with the frequency band corresponding to the communication signal. The tunable filter has a stop band narrower than the pass band of the fixed filter and having tunable frequency. The fixed filter and the tunable filter are connected in series.

Techniques are disclosed for forming integrated circuit single-flipped resonator devices that include an electrode formed of a two-dimensional electron gas (2 DEG). The disclosed resonator devices may be implemented with various group III-nitride (III-N) materials, and in some cases, the 2 DEG may be formed at a heterojunction of two epitaxial layers each formed of III-N materials, such as a gallium nitride (GaN) layer and an aluminum nitride (AlN) layer. The 2 DEG electrode may be able to achieve similar or increased carrier transport as compared to a resonator device having an electrode formed of metal. Additionally, in some embodiments where AlN is used as the piezoelectric material for the resonator device, the AlN may be epitaxially grown which may provide increased performance as compared to piezoelectric material that is deposited by traditional sputtering techniques.

An acoustic wave filter device includes a second filter section connected to a first filter section. The second filter section includes acoustic wave resonators in a ladder circuit configuration. Of the acoustic wave resonators in the first and second filter sections, the acoustic wave resonator having the smallest fractional bandwidth is included in the second filter section. In the second filter section, inductors are respectively connected between parallel arm resonators and a reference potential. Attenuation near a pass band in the second filter section is larger than attenuation near a pass band in the first filter section.

A bulk acoustic wave (BAW) resonator includes: an acoustic reflector disposed in a substrate; a lower electrode disposed over the acoustic reflector; a piezoelectric layer disposed over the lower electrode; and an upper electrode disposed over the piezoelectric layer. A contacting overlap of the lower electrode, the piezoelectric layer and the upper electrode over the acoustic reflector comprising an active area of the BAW resonator. An opening exists in the upper electrode in a region of the BAW resonator susceptible to unacceptable overheating.

A bandpass filter includes a capacitor coupled between an input node and an output node, and a dual-resonator structure coupled between the input node, the output node, and ground.

A notch filter includes a first inductor coupled between an input node and an output node, a dual-resonator structure coupled between the input node and the output node, and a second inductor coupled between the dual-resonator structure and ground, and a bandpass filter includes a capacitor coupled between an input node and an output node, and a dual-resonator structure coupled between the input node, the output node, and ground.

In a bulk acoustic wave (BAW) filter based on laterally acoustically coupled resonators on piezoelectric thin films, one can utilize two distinct acoustic plate wave modes of different nature, for example the thickness extensional (longitudinal) TE1 and the second harmonic thickness shear (TS2) mode to form a bandpass response. The invention is based on the excitation of at least two lateral standing wave resonances belonging to different plate wave modes that facilitate the transmission of signal. The passband is designed by tailoring the wave propagation characteristics in the device such that the resonances are excited at suitable frequencies to form a passband of a desired shape. The bandwidth of the filter described herein may therefore be more than twice that of the existing state-of-the-art microacoustic filters. Consequently, it has significant commercial and technological value.

In wireless communications, many radio frequency bands are used. For each frequency band, there are two frequencies, one for transmitting and the other for receiving. As the band widths are small and separation between adjacent bands is also small, many band pass filters with different band pass frequencies are required for each communication unit such as mobile handset. The invention provides tunable film bulk acoustic resonators TFBARs containing semiconducting piezoelectric layers and methods for tuning and adjusting the resonant properties. When a DC biasing voltage is varied, both the depletion region thickness and neutral region thickness associated in the semiconducting piezoelectric layers varies leading to changes in equivalent capacitances, inductance and resistances and hence the resonance properties and frequencies. A plurality of the present TFBARs are connected into a tunable oscillator or a tunable and selectable microwave filter for selecting and adjusting of the bandpass frequency by varying the biasing voltages.

An acoustic resonator is fabricated by bonding a first piezoelectric plate to a substrate and spans locations for a first and second cavity in the substrate. A top surface of the first piezoelectric plate is planarized to a first thickness. A bonding layer is formed on the first piezoelectric plate and spans the first and second cavity locations. A second piezoelectric plate is bonded to the bonding layer and spans the first and second cavity locations. A portion of the second piezoelectric plate spanning the second cavity location is etched away to form a first membrane over the first cavity location and a second membrane over the second cavity location. Interdigital transducers are formed on the first and second membranes over the first and second cavity location to form a first and second resonator on the same die.