THICKNESS MODE RESONATOR
20210058054 ยท 2021-02-25
Inventors
Cpc classification
H03H9/54
ELECTRICITY
International classification
Abstract
A resonator that includes a substrate with a cavity that extends in a principal surface thereof and a vibrating resonator above the principal surface of the substrate and including bottom and top electrodes with a piezoelectric layer disposed therebetween. Moreover, a silicon dioxide layer is provided above the substrate and below the vibrating resonator to cover the cavity of the substrate, and a silicon layer is provided between the silicon dioxide layer and the vibrating resonator. The bottom electrode, the top electrode and the piezoelectric layer of the vibrating resonator each have a thickness configured to accommodate substantially a half wavelength /2 of the resonator, and the silicon layer has a thickness that accommodates substantially multiple of the half wavelength /2 of the resonator.
Claims
1. A resonator configured to vibrate in a thickness direction, the resonator comprising: a substrate having a cavity extending in a principal surface thereof; a piezoelectric film stack disposed above the principal surface of the substrate and including bottom and top electrodes with a piezoelectric layer disposed therebetween, with the piezoelectric film stack comprising a thickness that substantially corresponds to a half wavelength /2 of the resonator; a positive temperature coefficient stack that includes at least a silicon layer and that disposed between the substrate and the piezoelectric film stack to cover the cavity of the substrate, with the positive temperature coefficient stack comprising a thickness that substantially corresponds to a multiple of the half wavelength /2 of the resonator; wherein the piezoelectric film stack comprises a negative temperature coefficient, and wherein the silicon layer is doped to configure the positive temperature coefficient stack to have a positive temperature coefficient, such that the positive temperature coefficient stack combined with the piezoelectric film stack configures the resonator as a zero temperature coefficient overtone resonator that vibrates in the thickness direction.
2. The resonator according to claim 1, wherein the positive temperature coefficient stack further comprises at least one silicon dioxide layer disposed between the silicon layer and the piezoelectric film stack.
3. The resonator according to claim 1, wherein the piezoelectric film stack further comprises at least one silicon dioxide layer disposed between the bottom and top electrode layers.
4. The resonator according to claim 1, wherein the silicon layer is doped with phosphorous to configure the positive temperature coefficient stack to have the positive temperature coefficient balanced with the negative temperature coefficient of the piezoelectric film stack.
5. The resonator according to claim 4, wherein a resistivity of the phosphorus doped silicon layer is equal to or less than 0.8 m.Math.cm.
6. The resonator according to claim 1, wherein the cavity comprises a first width extending in a direction parallel to the principal surface of the cavity and the top electrode comprises a second width extending in the direction parallel to the principal surface of the cavity, with the second width being less than the first width.
7. The resonator according to claim 6, wherein the second width of the top electrode is between 50 m and 500 m.
8. The resonator according to claim 1, further comprising a plurality of etch trenches that extend through the bottom electrode and the piezoelectric layer of the piezoelectric film stack and through the positive temperature coefficient stack, such that the plurality of etch trenches extend to the cavity of the substrate.
9. The resonator according to claim 8, wherein the top electrode comprises a surface area such that the plurality of etch trenches are each disposed an equal distance from the top electrode.
10. The resonator according to claim 9, wherein the top electrode comprises a surface area such that the plurality of etch trenches are each at distance between 10 to 100 m from top electrode.
11. The resonator according to claim 1, wherein the thickness of the silicon layer comprises one of a wavelength of /2, , 3/2 or 2 of the resonator, such that the resonator is configured as a thickness mode overtone resonator.
12. The resonator according to claim 1, wherein the top electrode comprises a surface area that is 80% or less than a projection of a cavity area on which the top electrode is disposed.
13. The resonator according to claim 12, wherein a distance between the top electrode and an edge of the cavity in a widthwise direction of the resonator is between 10 to 100 m from top electrode.
14. The resonator according to claim 1, wherein the top electrode comprises a plurality of segmented top electrodes and the bottom electrode is grounded, such that the resonator is configured as a differential oscillator with at least two of the plurality of segmented top electrodes configuring adjacent areas of the differential oscillator to vibrate 180 degrees out of phase from one another.
15. A resonator configured to vibrate in a thickness direction, the resonator comprising: a substrate having a cavity extending in a principal surface thereof; a piezoelectric resonator disposed above the principal surface of the substrate, with the piezoelectric resonator including bottom and top electrodes with a piezoelectric layer disposed therebetween; a positive temperature coefficient resonator disposed between the substrate and the piezoelectric resonator to cover the cavity of the substrate, with positive temperature coefficient resonator including at least a silicon layer doped to configure the positive temperature coefficient resonator to have a positive temperature coefficient, wherein the cavity comprises a first width extending in a direction parallel to the principal surface of the cavity and the top electrode comprises a second width extending in the direction parallel to the principal surface of the cavity, with the second width being less than the first width.
16. The resonator according to claim 15, wherein the piezoelectric resonator comprises a negative temperature coefficient, and the silicon layer is doped with phosphorous to balance the positive temperature coefficient resonator with the piezoelectric resonator, such that the resonator is configured as a zero temperature coefficient overtone resonator that vibrates in the thickness direction.
17. The resonator according to claim 16, wherein the piezoelectric resonator comprises a thickness that substantially corresponds to a half wavelength /2 of the resonator; and wherein the positive temperature coefficient resonator comprises a thickness that substantially corresponds to a multiple of the half wavelength /2 of the resonator.
18. The resonator according to claim 17, wherein the thickness of the silicon layer comprises one of a wavelength of /2, , 3/2 or 2 of the resonator, such that the resonator is configured as a thickness mode overtone resonator.
19. The resonator according to claim 15, wherein at least one silicon dioxide layer is disposed between at least the silicon layer and the piezoelectric resonator or between the bottom and top electrode layers.
20. The resonator according to claim 15, further comprising a plurality of etch trenches that extend through the bottom electrode and the piezoelectric layer of the piezoelectric resonator and through the positive temperature coefficient resonator, such that the plurality of etch trenches extend to the cavity of the substrate.
Description
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0021] The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated into and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure and, together with the detailed description, serve to explain their principles and implementations. The drawings provided are for illustrative purposes only and are therefore not drawn to scale.
[0022]
[0023]
[0024]
[0025]
[0026]
[0027]
[0028]
[0029]
[0030]
[0031]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0032] Example aspects are described herein in the context of a thickness mode overtone resonator that overcomes many of the technical disadvantages of existing devices described above. In particular, the exemplary embodiments disclosed herein provide a resonator that enables high performance and that is small in size and therefore suitable for high frequency oscillator applications required for high-speed communication systems.
[0033] Those of ordinary skill in the art will realize that the following description is illustrative only and is not intended to be in any way limiting. Other aspects will readily suggest themselves to those skilled in the art having the benefit of this disclosure. Reference will now be made in detail to implementations of the example aspects as illustrated in the accompanying drawings. The same reference indicators will be used to the extent possible throughout the drawings and the following description to refer to the same or like items.
[0034] Accordingly,
[0035] As shown according to the first exemplary embodiment, the thickness mode overtone resonator 100 can be formed on a silicon substrate 110 with a cavity 120 formed therein. In this aspect, the cavity 120 is formed in a center portion or section of a principal main surface of the silicon substrate 110 (i.e., parallel to the X and Y axes), such that side edges 112 extending in the thickness direction from the sides of the silicon substrate 110 effectively define the cavity 120. It should be appreciated that the cavity 120 can be formed in the silicon layer 110 using any conventional technique, such as etching.
[0036] As further shown, a silicon dioxide layer 130 is formed on top of the silicon substrate 110 and, more particularly, on the sides 112 of the silicon substrate 110 to effectively cover and seal the cavity 120, defining an air gap therein. In an exemplary embodiment, the silicon dioxide layer 130 comprises a thickness ranging from 100 nm to 2 m. Moreover, a single crystal silicon layer 140 is formed on top of (and disposed thereon) the silicon dioxide layer 130, such that the silicon dioxide layer 130 is formed between the single crystal silicon layer 140 and the silicon substrate 110. Collectively, the single crystal silicon layer 140 and the silicon dioxide layer 130 form a positive temperature coefficient stack, also referred to as a positive temperature coefficient resonator, which is discussed in greater detail below. Moreover, according to an exemplary aspect, the single crystal silicon layer 140 can have a thickness that ranges from 2 m to 50 m.
[0037] As further shown, a metal bottom electrode 150, a piezoelectric layer 160, and a top electrode 170, are provided to form a piezoelectric film stack (also referred to as a piezoelectric resonator) on the single crystal silicon layer 140. In one exemplary aspect, the piezoelectric layer 160 can be formed from aluminum nitride (AlN) and have a thickness in the range from 0.4 m to 3 m. In addition, the bottom and top electrode 150 and 170 are typically a metal, such as molybdenum, with thickness ranging from 0.1 m to 1 m.
[0038] According to the exemplary embodiment shown in
[0039] In one exemplary aspect, a thickness overtone resonator 100 is provided having a configuration as shown in
[0040] In accordance with another exemplary aspect, another thickness overtone resonator 100 is provided having a configuration as shown in
[0041] According to the exemplary embodiment, the piezoelectric film stack formed by piezoelectric layer 160 and metal electrodes 150 and 170 has negative temperature coefficient of frequency. In other words, the resonant frequency decreases with temperature. This technical effect is highly undesirable in time keeping applications. Thus, in the exemplary embodiment, the negative temperature coefficient of frequency can be reduced by incorporating silicon dioxide between bottom electrode 150 and the top electrode 170 as is shown in
[0042] In a refinement of the exemplary aspect, when the thickness overtone resonator 100 is configured for time keeping applications, the single-crystal silicon layer 140 can be temperature compensated by doping it with phosphorus. In a preferred aspect of the exemplary embodiment, the temperature coefficient of silicon is made positive by doping the silicon with the phosphorus doping density of over 5.Math.10.sup.19 l/cm.sup.3. Moreover, in a refinement of the exemplary aspect, the resistivity of the phosphorus doped silicon can be equal to or less than 0.8 m.Math.cm.
[0043] Advantageously, the slightly positive first order temperature coefficient of silicon will balance negative temperature coefficients of the metal electrodes 150 and 170 and the piezoelectric layer 160. Using silicon 140 as a compensating material for reduced temperature dependency is an advantage when the thickness overtone resonator 100 is implemented in applications that require good temperature stability. In applications that require exceptional frequency stability, the phosphorus doping can be increase to less than 0.65 m.Math.cm which also minimizes the second order temperature coefficient of the resonator. However, very high doping concentrations are known decrease the magnitude of the positive temperature coefficient of phosphorus doped silicon. It is possible that silicon doped with very high doping concentration cannot compensate the negative temperature dependency of the piezoelectric film stack.
[0044] In further refinements of the exemplary embodiment, one or more additional layers of silicon dioxide can be provided to make the first order temperature coefficient more positive. This enables the use of higher doping concentrations to minimize the second order temperature dependency. For example, in one aspect as show in
[0045] According to the exemplary embodiment, an additional advantage of using the overtone resonator 100 with one or multiple half wavelengths in silicon is that the thickness of the single-crystal silicon layer 140 can be increased without changing the resonant frequency to adjust electrical and mechanical properties of the resonator. For example, in the second example described above, the thickness of the single-crystal silicon layer 140 can be multiple of half-wavelengths with possible thicknesses of 5 m, 10 m, 15 m, and the like. By increasing the thickness of the single-crystal silicon layer 140, the resonator 100 becomes mechanically more robust, as would be appreciated to one skilled in the art. Moreover, by increasing the silicon thickness, the temperature characteristics of silicon have a larger role in determining the temperature coefficient of frequency of the whole resonator 100. Since the temperature dependency of silicon can be adjusted and controlled accurately, having large total silicon thickness in comparison to thickness of metal electrodes 150 and 170 and the piezoelectric layer 160 is beneficial for making high performance resonators with good temperature characteristics.
[0046] In addition to good temperature characteristics, it is important that the thickness overtone resonator 100 has a high quality factor, as also discussed above. This performance characteristic requires confining the vibrations 100 within the resonator and minimizing the energy leakage to the substrate 110. In
[0047] In yet a further refinement of the example aspect, as shown in
[0048] Therefore, to minimize the energy loss and thus maximize the quality factor of the resonator 100, the cavity 120 is formed in the silicon substrate 110 with a larger width in the X and Y directions than a corresponding width in these directions of the surface area of the top electrode 170. Moreover, in an exemplary aspect, the distance between the electrode edge 172 and cavity edge 112 (e.g., extending in the X direction) should ideally be several wavelengths. For example, distances from the electrode edge 172 to the cavity edge 112 (in the X axis direction) can be between 10 m and 100 m. Moreover, the area defined by the cavity 120 (i.e., from the top view) is therefore 4,900 m.sup.2 to 490,000 m.sup.2. According to this configuration, the top electrode 170 comprises an area that is 80% or less of the resonator area over the cavity 120.
[0049] In another exemplary aspect,
[0050] It is noted that the thickness mode overtone resonator 200 according to the second exemplary embodiment comprises many of the same components shown above in
[0051] In addition, according to the second exemplary embodiment, as shown in
[0052] Thus, in a refinement of this exemplary aspect, even when the resonator energy loss is minimized with the etched trenches 262, preferably the distance from the side edge 272 of the top electrode 270 to the edge 266 (shown in
[0053] In one further refinement of the exemplary aspect, the top electrode 270 includes a surface shape (i.e., parallel to the X and Y axes directions) that is polygon shape (e.g., rectangular or square shaped). Moreover, it is contemplated that the plurality of etch trenches 262 can be disposed at are equal distances from the top electrode 270 as further shown in
[0054] In another exemplary aspect,
[0055] It is noted that the thickness mode overtone resonator 300 according to the third exemplary embodiment comprises many of the same components shown above in first and second exemplary embodiments. For example, the thickness mode overtone resonator 300 generally includes a silicon substrate 310, a silicon dioxide layer 330 is formed on top of the silicon substrate 310, a single crystal silicon layer 340 disposed on top thereof, and a stacked configuration for the resonator including the bottom electrode 350, the piezoelectric layer 360 and the top electrode 370. Moreover, each of these components can be provided according the same configurations and same dimensions (e.g., thicknesses) as described above with respect to the components of the thickness mode overtone resonators 100 and 200 according to the first and second exemplary embodiments, respectively. Yet further, a plurality of etch trenches 362 extend through the silicon dioxide layer 330 and the silicon layer 340 (as well as bottom electrode 350 and piezoelectric layer 360), such that the plurality of etch trenches 362 extend to the cavity 320 formed in the silicon substrate 310.
[0056] In addition, as shown in
[0057] In the interest of clarity, not all of the routine features of the embodiments are disclosed herein. It should be appreciated that in the development of any actual implementation of the present disclosure, numerous implementation-specific decisions must be made in order to achieve the designer's specific goals, and these specific goals will vary for different implementations and different designers. It is understood that such a design effort might be complex and time-consuming, but would nevertheless be a routine undertaking of engineering for those of ordinary skill in the art, having the benefit of this disclosure.
[0058] Furthermore, it is to be understood that the phraseology or terminology used herein is for the purpose of description and not of restriction, such that the terminology or phraseology of the present specification is to be interpreted by those skilled in the art in light of the teachings and guidance presented herein, in combination with the knowledge of the skilled in the relevant art(s). Moreover, it is not intended for any term in the specification or claims to be ascribed an uncommon or special meaning unless explicitly set forth as such.
[0059] While the foregoing has been described in conjunction with exemplary embodiments, it is understood that the term exemplary is merely meant as an example. Accordingly, the application is intended to cover alternatives, modifications and equivalents, which may be included within the spirit and scope of the thickness mode resonator disclosed herein.
REFERENCE SIGNS LIST
[0060] 100, 200, 300: thickness mode overtone resonator
[0061] 110, 210, 310: silicon substrate
[0062] 112: silicon substrate side
[0063] 120, 220, 320: cavity
[0064] 130, 230, 330, 190B, 109C: silicon dioxide layer
[0065] 140, 240, 340: single crystal silicon layer
[0066] 150, 250, 350: bottom electrode
[0067] 160, 260, 360: piezoelectric layer
[0068] 262, 362: etch trenches
[0069] 264: corner connecting portion
[0070] 170, 270: top electrode
[0071] 172: electrode edge
[0072] 180, 280, 380A, 380B: vibration modes
[0073] 372, 374: segmented top electrode areas