Acoustic resonators, such as bulk acoustic wave (BAW) resonators and, in particular, acoustic resonators including stacked crystal filters (SCFs) are disclosed. SCF structures are disclosed with increased spurious free ranges by providing various arrangements of acoustically soft materials in one or more locations that correspond with high stress regions of one or more modes. For SCFs operating in first order modes, relative amounts of acoustically soft materials within shared electrodes may be increased. One or more additional layers of acoustically soft materials may also be added to SCF structures near shared electrodes. Accordingly, SCFs may be provided with increased frequency spreads between first order modes and second order modes.

A coupled resonator filter includes a first resonator, a second resonator, one or more intervening layers, a first border ring, and a second border ring. The first resonator includes a first piezoelectric layer and a first electrode in contact with the first piezoelectric layer. The second resonator includes a second piezoelectric layer and a second electrode in contact with the second piezoelectric layer. The one or more intervening layers are between the first resonator and the second resonator and acoustically couple the first resonator and the second resonator. The first border ring is on the first electrode. The second border ring is on the second electrode. By providing both the first border ring and the second border ring, spurious modes in the coupled resonator filter may be suppressed, thereby improving the performance thereof.

A resonator element for use in a filter is provided. The resonator element includes a first resonator acoustically coupled to a second or third resonator or both. The first resonator has terminals for incorporation in a filter structure. A tuning circuit is coupled to the second or third resonator or both to enable tuning of the resonator element. The tuning circuit includes a variable capacitor and an inductor.

In accordance with an embodiment, an RF system includes a transmit path having a transmit RF filter and an adjustable transmit phase shifter/matching network coupled between the transmit RF filter and a transmit antenna port, where the adjustable transmit phase shifter/matching network is configured to transform an impedance of the transmit RF filter at a receive frequency from a first lower impedance to a first higher impedance at the transmit antenna port; and a receive path having a receive RF filter and an adjustable receive phase shifter/matching network coupled between the receive RF filter and a receive antenna port, where the adjustable receive phase shifter/matching network is configured to transform an impedance of the receive RF filter at a transmit frequency from a second lower impedance to a second higher impedance at the receive antenna port.

A notch filter includes an inductor 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 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 accordance with an embodiment, a method of operating an RF system includes generating a first RF signal having a first frequency; filtering the generated first RF signal to form a first filtered transmitted signal; producing a first coupled signal and a first transmitted signal from the first filtered transmitted signal; transmitting the first transmitted signal; transmitting a second RF signal having a second frequency; bandpass filtering the first coupled signal to form a first tunable bandpass filtered signal; and measuring a parameter of the first tunable bandpass filtered signal.

A resonator element for use in a filter is provided. The resonator element includes a first resonator acoustically coupled to a second or third resonator or both. The first resonator has terminals for incorporation in a filter structure. A tuning circuit is coupled to the second or third resonator or both to enable tuning of the resonator element. The tuning circuit includes a variable capacitor and an inductor.

In accordance with an embodiment, a method of operating an RF system includes filtering a first wideband RF signal using a wideband filter bank. Filtering the first RF signal includes separating the first wideband RF signal into frequency cluster signals, where each frequency cluster signal of the frequency cluster signals includes different frequency ranges, the first wideband RF signal includes multiple RF bands, and each of the different frequency ranges comprises a plurality of RF bands of the multiple RF bands. The method further includes band stop filtering at least one of the frequency cluster signals to produce a band stopped frequency cluster signal.

Acoustic resonators, such as bulk acoustic wave (BAW) resonators, are disclosed that include phase shift structures. Acoustic resonators, including stacked crystal filters (SCFs) and coupled resonator filters (CRFs), may include inverted piezoelectric layers that are configured to provide built-in phase shift capabilities. Circuit topologies that include such SCFs may be provided with simplified structures and reduced loss. Circuit topologies with such CRFs may be provided with more symmetrical electrical connections and improved phase balance over operating frequencies. SCFs with phase shift structures may additionally include spurious mode suppression by modifying piezoelectric coupling profiles within one or more layers. Mode suppression configurations may include structures with one or more inverted polarity piezoelectric layers, one or more non-piezoelectric layers, one or more thicker electrodes of the SCF, and combinations thereof.