DENSITY-MODULATED PHONONIC MEMBRANES
20240186974 ยท 2024-06-06
Inventors
- Dennis H?j (Kongens Lyngby, DK)
- Ulrich Busk Hoff (Kongens Lyngby, DK)
- Ulrik Lund Andersen (Kongens Lyngby, DK)
Cpc classification
H03H9/02433
ELECTRICITY
G01N29/022
PHYSICS
International classification
Abstract
The invention relates to a mechanical oscillator device comprising an unsupported membrane with a multitude of discrete mass elements distributed to form Phononic crystal cells in the form of regions of additional mass each comprising a plurality of mass elements. The phononic crystal structure has a defect for confining a mechanical oscillation mode having a resonance frequency, f, with the mass elements have a smallest lateral dimension of less than 1/10 of a wavelength of the mechanical oscillation mode. The invention is based on a distribution of tiny additional mass elements providing a periodic density contrast pattern to create the bandgap. This approach keeps the tensile stress uniform which ensures perfect overlap between the tensile stress distribution and mode-shape. This again reduces the damping and thus allows for very high quality factors, Q.
Claims
1. A mechanical oscillator device comprising: a thin film on a supporting substrate, wherein the supporting substrate is shaped to expose an area of the thin film to form an unsupported membrane; wherein the membrane comprises a multitude of discrete mass elements distributed to form regions of additional mass on the membrane, wherein each region of additional mass comprises a plurality of mass elements; and wherein: the regions of additional mass form a periodic pattern providing a phononic crystal structure on the membrane; the phononic crystal structure exhibits a defect for confining a mechanical oscillation mode having a resonance frequency, f, and corresponding wavelength, ?; and a minimum lateral dimension, d, of the mass elements is less than 1/10 of the wavelength of the mechanical oscillation mode.
2-16. (Cancelled).
17. The mechanical oscillator device according to claim 1, wherein the defect and/or the regions of additional mass adjacent to the defect are configured for the resonance frequency of the mechanical oscillation mode to fall within a frequency range of a bandgap of the phononic crystal structure.
18. The mechanical oscillator device according to claim 1, wherein the mass elements are pillars.
19. The mechanical oscillator device according to claim 1, wherein the mass elements have lateral dimension, d, and a mean distance, a, and 0,2 a<d<0,8 a.
20. The mechanical oscillator device according to claim 1, wherein the mass elements have a mean distance, a, with a<5 micron.
21. The mechanical oscillator device according to claim 1, wherein a majority of the mass elements are distributed periodically within regions of additional mass.
22. The mechanical oscillator device according to claim 21, wherein the periodical distribution is a hexagonal pattern.
23. The mechanical oscillator device according to claim 1, wherein a majority of the regions of additional mass are formed by at least substantially uniform distributions of at least substantially identical mass elements.
24. The mechanical oscillator device according to claim 1, wherein a majority of the regions of additional mass is formed by at least substantially identical mass elements whose distribution have a density that decreases towards a boundary of the regions of additional mass.
25. The mechanical oscillator device according to claim 1, wherein a majority of the regions of additional mass is formed by an at least substantially uniform distribution of mass elements whose dimensions decreases towards a boundary of the regions of additional mass.
26. The mechanical oscillator device according to claim 1, wherein the membrane is a silicon nitride or silicon carbide membrane.
27. The mechanical oscillator device according to claim 1, wherein a uniform tensile stress along at least one direction in the plane of the membrane is provided.
28. The mechanical oscillator device according to claim 1, wherein the minimum lateral dimension, d, of the mass elements is less than 1/20 of the wavelength of the mechanical oscillation mode.
29. A sensor comprising the mechanical oscillator device according to claim 1, wherein the sensor is configured to detect an oscillation characteristic of the membrane.
30. A method for providing a mechanical oscillator device, comprising: providing a thin film on a supporting substrate; providing a multitude of discrete mass elements on a first section of the thin film, the mass elements being distributed to form regions of additional mass on the first section of the thin film, with each region of additional mass comprising a plurality of mass elements; wherein the regions of additional mass form a periodic pattern providing a phononic crystal structure on the first section of the thin film; and shaping the supporting substrate to expose the first section of the thin film to form an unsupported membrane; wherein the phononic crystal structure exhibits a defect for confining a mechanical oscillation mode of the membrane having a resonance frequency, f, and corresponding wavelength, ?, and wherein a minimum lateral dimension, d, of the mass elements is less than 1/10 of the wavelength of the mechanical oscillation mode.
31. The method according to claim 30, wherein: providing the thin film on the supporting substrate comprises depositing the thin film on the substrate by a chemical vapor deposition technique; providing a multitude of discrete mass elements on a first section of the thin film comprises patterning the multitude of discrete mass elements on the thin film by a reactive ion etching technique; providing a multitude of discrete mass elements on a first section of the thin film comprises introducing a defect by removing one or more discrete mass elements; and shaping the supporting substrate to expose the first section of the thin film to form an unsupported membrane comprises etching of the supporting substrate with potassium hydroxide, from a side opposite a side holding the thin film to form the unsupported membrane.
Description
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES
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[0032]
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[0040]
[0041]
[0042]
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[0044]
[0045]
[0046]
[0047] A membrane oscillator experiences different damping mechanisms which may affect the resonator's performance. These can largely be divided into [0048] 1. Gas damping: An external force of colliding gas molecules impeding the movement of the resonator. [0049] 2. Intrinsic loss: Internal friction forces resulting in internal damping, including boundary bending losses at the boundary where the membrane attaches to the supporting substrate and distributed bending losses in regions far from the boundary. [0050] 3. Phonon tunneling loss: Phonons of the resonator which couple and are lost to the surrounding substrate. This loss mechanism is also known under a broad range of other names: Radiation losses, clamping losses, anchoring losses and external losses.
[0051] The different damping mechanisms have individual quality factor contributions where W is the resonator mode energy, ?Wi the lost energy per cycle for the damping contribution i. The
total quality factor of an oscillator can then be computed by where it is evident the lowest quality factor contribution will dominate the quality factor of the oscillator.
[0052] In general, a good textbook reference for the field of membrane oscillators is Silvan Schmid, Luis Guillermo Villanueva, and Michael Lee Roukes. Fundamentals of nanomechanical resonators. 2016, pp. 1-175. ISBN: 9783319286914. DOI: 10. 1007/978-3-319-28691-4.
[0053] The use of phononic crystal structures on the membranes to reduce phonon tunneling losses are known in the prior art. A phononic crystal can be created by introducing periodic contrast in the phase speed of the out-of-plane vibration in the membrane (i.e. periodic variation in the phase speed as a function of position in the membrane).
[0054] The phase speed of a vibration can for the high tensile stress regime be estimated as
[0055] Where ? and ? are tensile stress and material density, respectively. a can be modulated simply by 25 modulating the width of a string or by creating a two-dimensional pattern of pad-tether structures by holes in a membrane, see also
[0056]
[0057] The present invention utilizes the realization that the periodic contrast in the phase speed can also be achieved by periodically modulating the material density p. As mentioned previously, periodically modulating the material density with bulk features such as cell-sized modulations in the membrane thickness or material compositing or large pillars to make the PnC involves disadvantages of making the tensile stress non-uniform and increasing the bending stiffness of the membrane. The present invention thus utilizes the further realization illustrated in
[0058] The mass elements are elements that add mass to the membrane and that are so small that their effect is uniform as seen by the vibrational modes. Between the discrete mass elements, the original membrane thickness and material composition is conserved.
[0059] The introduction of the mass elements on the membrane does introduce extra damping in the form of an evanescent wave at the base of each mass element similar to boundary bending losses. This is highlighted on
[0060] In a preferred embodiment, a majority of the mass elements are distributed periodically within regions of additional mass, such as in a hexagonal pattern, as this keeps their small tensile stress contributions as uniform as possible. Also, the mass elements preferably have at least some rotational symmetries around an axis perpendicular to the plane of the membrane as this allows the mass elements to be placed in a closest packing with a high density.
[0061] In one example, Shown in
[0062] In another example, the mass elements are elongated in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the membrane, like pillars but not necessarily circular and of constant lateral dimensions. Examples of such mass elements may be pyramids, cones, mushrooms, etc. The higher the mass element, the more mass it adds with the same footprint. Since the mass elements themselves have eigenfrequencies, there is a risk that these eigenfrequencies may overlap and thus interfere with the vibration modes of the membrane, especially if the mass elements become too high. This may be considered when designing the device but is relatively easy to avoid.
[0063] In another example, the mass elements are elongated in a direction parallel to the plane of the membrane, like lines or walls, preferably designed to extend in a direction perpendicular to the direction of propagation of the mode of vibration. An elongated mass element can generally be assigned a width as the dimension transverse to the direction of elongation and a length as the dimension parallel to the direction of elongation. Here, a smallest or minimum lateral dimension would then be the width. When using such laterally elongated mass elements, the uniformity of the tensile stress will be along at least one direction in the plane of the membrane.
[0064] As described previously, the wavelength, ?, of the mechanical oscillation mode is an inherent property of the device and is predominantly determined by the periodicity of the phononic crystal structure, aPh. The exact relation between ? and a.sub.ph depends on the type of membrane and the PnC pattern. The wavelength can be determined by calculation, simulation, or measurement. As discussed later with reference to
[0065] In an exemplary embodiment, the smallest lateral dimension of the mass elements is between 50-500 nm, such as preferably 100-200 nm.
[0066] The main function of the mass elements is to add mass to the membrane. The mass elements may therefore be formed in any solid material or material composition such as metals, polymers, semiconductors etc., albeit preferably any material compatible with microfabrication techniques. For example, mass elements are preferably formed by an amorphous material as these are easier to work with in fabrication, but crystalline will work just as well when it comes to providing a density modulation. Different parts of a single mass element or of a distribution of mass elements may also be formed in different materials. Preferred materials for the mass elements are silicon nitride, silicon carbide, diamond, calcium fluoride, polymers, gold, titanium, chromium, nickel, and as well as other metals. The mass elements are preferably formed by the same material as the thin film, please refer to the detailed description of the thin film later herein.
[0067] The mass element distribution may be periodic, section-wise periodic, or a-periodical. In any case, it is possible to determine or estimate a mean distance, a, between the mass elements. The smaller the mean distance, the finer the distribution. For some periodic distributions, such as for a hexagonal distribution, the mean distance is identical to the period. As discussed above in relation to
[0068] The relation between the mean distance and the lateral dimension of the mass elements is a preferred design parameter for the mass element distribution. In general, for a coarse distribution a good relation is d?a/2 whereas for a fine distribution a good relation is closer to d?0,3 a. In a preferred embodiment, the relation between the mean distance and the lateral dimension of the mass elements in the distribution is 0,2a<d<0,8a.
[0069] It should be noted that the use of mass elements to form the phononic crystal on the membrane in the devices of the disclosure does in no way exclude the use of holes in the membrane in addition to the mass elements. In exemplary implementations of the device, the use of holes, in addition to the mass elements forming the regions of additional mass, may be used to increase the density contrast and/or increase the tensile stress of the membrane.
[0070] Where the mass element distribution is a closest packing of very small elements, it may be thought of as a modulation of the density of the membrane, in the following introduced as the concept of the effective material density, ?.sub.eff. The effective material density is the amount of mass from the membrane and the discrete mass elements within a given unit area of the membrane. It is noted that the effective material density is a constructed parameter used in the theoretical approach to optimize the design, and not a physical parameter of the oscillator structure.
[0071] Since the mass elements are discrete, the effective material density for a unit area, A, of the membrane with coordinates i, j ? can be defined as:
[0072] Where it is assumed that the thin film forming the basic membrane has uniform density p and thickness h, and where the n-summation is over mass elements with density ?.sub.n and volume V.sub.n located within the unit area (i, j). As can be seen, the effective material density treats the mass of the discrete mass elements as lying within the thickness of the membrane.
[0073] In an embodiment where the discrete mass elements are circular pillars of height h.sub.pill arranged in a hexagonal pattern as illustrated in
[0074] The above is derived considering the mass contribution from a single pillar and then comparing to the mass contribution from the membrane in a single hexagonal cell.
[0075] Having defined the effective material density, the design of phononic crystals can be approached theoretically using the effective material density as a proxy for regions of additional mass formed by distributions of discrete mass elements. An example of such a theoretical approach is described in more detail in the section Appendix A at the end of the disclosure. Here we will take the derived design parameters and describe two preferred designs.
[0076] The design provides an effective material density model ?.sub.eff as a function of position on the membrane) giving a layout of added mass for the desired density modulated PnC. This model (having reference numeral 7 in the figures) is what the mass element distribution is then designed to approximate.
[0077] The following design parameters are used: [0078] The maximum relative effective material density, g.sub.max, being the densest distribution of the mass elements, typically at the center of a region of additional mass (remember the distribution density, or packing of the mass elements, is modulated to form the regions of additional mass). [0079] g.sub.cmax maximum relative effective material density for cells adjacent to a defect in the PnC. By adjusting their effective material density to g.sub.cmax , the resonance frequency of the mode confined at the defect can be adjusted to better match the PnC bandgap. [0080] The relative normalized relative size of the cells in the effective material distribution model, ?.sub.w, if a ?.sub.w=1, the cells will exactly touch each other. [0081] The phononic crystal periodicity, a.sub.ph, being the period of the PnC and thus the distance between the cells in the effective material distribution model, see also
[0082] Two effective material density models illustrated in
[0083] DPI (
[0084] DP2 (
[0085]
[0086] An advantageous feature of the invention is that any density model can be used and approximated by a sufficiently fine distribution of mass elements. This is not the case for stress phononic membranes where the stability and durability of the membrane become an issue when too many holes are made.
[0087] The following discussion is based on the example where all mass elements are circular pillars fabricated with the same diameter, height, and resolution on a hexagonal grid. The pillar diameter is set to half the periodicity. With these parameters fixed the only way to modulate the effective material density is by omitting pillars at certain hexagonal coordinates depending on the desired density. This discretization scheme is only approximate. Of course, finer pillar mesh resolutions will result in a better approximation of the effective material density model being converted. The simplest distribution to convert is the binary distribution which is shown for design DP1 on
[0088]
[0089] In a preferred embodiment, a majority of the regions of additional mass 6 are formed by an at least substantially uniform distribution of at least substantially identical mass elements 10. Such distributions form binary effective material density models and the resulting PnC cells are embodied by the examples in
[0090] Preliminary results indicate that coherent resonators with very high Q factors can be achieved by using very small pillars with high periodicity (small mean distance) to form the unit cells.
[0091] For the 1.1 MHz membranes of
[0092] In another preferred embodiment, a majority of the regions of additional mass are formed by at least substantially identical mass elements whose distribution have a density that decreases towards a boundary of the regions of additional mass. Such distributions form smoother effective material density models and the resulting PnC cells are embodied by the examples in
[0093] Although usually depicted as a missing cell, a defect is principally any disturbance in the PnC. Hence, the defect may be introduced by leaving out a cell, by changing a cell such as by adjusting (up or down) the distribution of mass elements or the dimensions of the mass elements, or by adding something that lies outside the normal cell positions. In order to obtain maximum mode confinement at the defect, the resonance frequency is preferably shifted to the center of the bandgap. This may be achieved by manipulating the cells right next to the defect. By lowering their effective material density to gcmax, the effective mass of the defect confined mode is reduced which results in a higher resonance frequency. Alternatively or additionally, the defect itself may be designed to ensure a desired overlap between the resonance frequency and the bandgap. Thus, in a preferred embodiment, the defect and/or the regions of additional mass adjacent to the defect are configured for the resonance frequency of the mechanical oscillation mode to fall within a frequency range of a bandgap of the phononic crystal structure. The option of adjusting the cells adjacent to the defect is embodied by the lower rows in
[0094] Referring to
[0095] The lateral dimensions of the membrane'or equivalently of the unsupported part of the thin film or the shaping of the supporting structureis selected in view of the desired resonance frequency and how many cells one wants to include to achieve a certain level of mode isolation.
[0096] It is an important advantage of the present invention that the tensile stress is uniform or at least substantially uniform due to the PnC cells being provided by fine distributions of smaller discrete mass elements. Hence, it is preferred that there is a uniform tensile stress across the membrane, and that this uniform stress is a result of all additional mass on the membrane being provided by distributions of discrete mass elements. It may, however, still be of interest to use strain engineering to achieve an increased uniform tensile stress over the membrane could improve the Q*f product by increasing both 30 the quality factor Q and frequency f.
[0097] The preferred material for the thin film and thus for the membrane is silicon nitride. The presence of defects in amorphous materials, and especially the presence of surface impurities, is an ultimate limiting factor when reducing the losses. It may therefore be worthwhile to look for other membrane materials which do not observe the same degree of surface impurities. Silicon carbide has demonstrated intrinsic bulk quality factors above 10.sup.5 in cantilevers which is roughly an order of magnitude higher than for silicon nitride, although demonstrating this in membrane oscillators have not yet resulted in high performance compared to similar silicon nitride based membrane oscillators. Obtaining a high-quality silicon carbide layer for use in thin film tensile stress resonators seems nontrivial. Other materials showing high bulk quality factors above 10.sup.5 include diamond, where cantilevers have been reported to preserve their high quality factors down the nm scale, as well as calcium fluoride, although the latter has not been explored much yet. While the membrane is preferably a silicon nitride or silicon carbide membrane, the other materials mentioned above are also candidates.
[0098] As already mentioned, a major application of the mechanical oscillator devices provided by the invention is in MEMS sensors, in particular high-sensitivity sensors, e.g. for pressure and acceleration sensing. A preferred implementation is to optically read out the membrane oscillations and convert the optical signal to an electric signal for further processing. Other approaches to read out the oscillation frequency is pattern electrodes on the membranes and exploit electrodynamic transduction, electrostatic transduction, piezoresistive readout, and piezoelectric transduction.
[0099] The number of phononic crystal cells, N.sub.ph, determines how well the acoustic mode is confined to the defect. As will be discussed later in relation to
[0100] The mechanical oscillator device may be scaled to different sizes and resonance frequencies using the design procedures and parameters provided in the present disclosure.
[0101] In one example, the mechanical oscillator device has a resonance frequency in the MHz range (1-10 MHz) and/or a phononic crystal cell periodicity, a.sub.ph, in the range 0.1-100?m. The fabricated devices reported herein lies in this range.
[0102] In another example, the mechanical oscillator device has a resonance frequency in the 10 MHz range (10-100 MHz) or a phononic crystal cell periodicity a.sub.ph, in the range 0.01-10 ?m. Such higher resonance frequency may be advantageous for certain sensing applications, high-speed sensing, quantum state transduction and quantum memory applications. Furthermore, a 10 MHz device could serve as a mechanical alternative to 10 MHz crystal oscillators as frequency references. Since fabrication techniques and material constraints will set a lower limit on pillar dimension and periodicity, the achievable Q-factor may be lower than for devices in the MHz range.
[0103] In yet another example, the mechanical oscillator device has a resonance frequency in the 100 kHz range (100-1.000 kHz) and/or a phononic crystal cell periodicity a.sub.ph, in the range1-1000 ?m. Such lower resonance frequencies may be advantageous for certain sensing applications, manipulation of quantum states, generation of exotic quantum states for quantum information applications. Such larger devices may require different materials and fabrication techniques than those discussed herein.
[0104] In still another example, the mechanical oscillator device has a resonance frequency in the 10 KHz range (10-100 kHz). Such lower resonance frequency may be advantageous for certain sensing applications, ultra-sensitive sensing, gravitational wave detection,
[0105] The invention has been demonstrated experimentally in that several test batches were fabricated.
[0106] In one or more example methods, providing S102 the thin film (such as silicon nitride, and/or silicon carbide) on the supporting substrate comprises depositing (S102A) the thin film on the supporting substrate by using chemical vapor deposition (CVD) technique such as low-pressure chemical vapor deposition (LPCVD), and /or plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD).
[0107] In one or more example methods, the thin film may comprise silicon nitride. The thin film may comprise silicon carbide. The thin film may comprise silicon. The thin film may comprise silicon dioxide. The thin film may comprise diamond. The thin film may comprise chalcogenide-based material. The thin film may comprise calcium fluoride. The thin film may comprise graphene. The thin film may be a crystalline material (such as quartz).
[0108] In one or more example methods, the supporting substrate may comprise silicon nitride. The supporting substrate may comprise silicon carbide. The supporting substrate may comprise silicon. The supporting substrate may comprise diamond. The supporting substrate may comprise silicon dioxide. The supporting substrate may comprise chalcogenide-based material. The supporting substrate may comprise calcium fluoride. The supporting substrate may comprise graphene. The supporting substrate may be a crystalline material (such as quartz).
[0109] In one or more example methods, providing S102 comprises depositing a second thin film on the surface of the thin film which is not in contact with the supporting substrate. In one or more example methods, the second thin film may be deposited on the surface of the supporting substrate, between the supporting substrate and the first thin film layer. In one or more example methods, the second thin film may act as a sacrificial layer. The second thin film may act as an intermediate layer. The second thin film may act as a protective layer.
[0110] In one or more example methods, the deposition of thin film on the substrate can be performed by using physical vapor deposition techniques (such as e-beam sputtering, magnetron sputtering).
[0111] In one or more example methods, the deposition of the thin film on the supporting substrate can be performed by using atomic layer deposition techniques.
[0112] In one or more example methods, the thin film may comprise an amorphous material. The thin film may comprise a crystalline material. The thin film may comprise an alloy. The thin film may have a thickness in the range of 5 nm to 20 nm. The thin film may have a thickness in the range of 20 nm to 50 nm. The thin film may have a thickness in the range of 50 nm to 100 nm.
[0113] In one or more example methods, the supporting substrate may comprise an amorphous material. The supporting substrate may comprise a crystalline material. The supporting substrate may comprise an alloy.
[0114] The method 100 comprises, providing S104 a multitude of discrete mass elements on a first section of the thin film, the mass elements being distributed to form regions of additional mass on the first section of the thin film, with each region of additional mass comprising a plurality of mass elements.
[0115] In one or more example methods, the first section of the thin film may indicate a surface of the thin film that is not in contact with the substrate.
[0116] In one or more example methods, providing S104 the multitude of discrete mass elements comprises patterning the multitude of discrete mass elements on the thin film by using lithography techniques (such as optical lithography, electron lithography, x-ray lithography, and/or ion lithography) combined with material etching technique (such as wet etching techniques, and/or dry etching techniques such as reactive ion etching (RIE)), to form regions of additional mass on the first section of the thin film.
[0117] In one or more example methods, a mass element may be an amorphous material. The mass element may be a crystalline material. The mass element may be an alloy. The mass element may be a combination of amorphous and crystalline material.
[0118] In one or more example methods, the mass element may be a nanostructure. The mass element may be a pillar, a sphere, a pyramid, a cube, a cuboid, a nanotube, and/or a nanoparticle. The mass element may have dimensions in the range of 5 nm to 50 nm. The mass element may have dimensions in the range of 50nm to 100 nm. The mass element may have dimensions in the range of 100nm to 150 nm. The mass element may have dimensions in the range of 150nm to 200 nm. The mass element may have dimensions in the range of 200nm to 500 nm.
[0119] In one or more example methods, the mass element may be a microstructure. The mass element may be a pillar, a sphere, a pyramid, a cube, a cuboid, a microtube, and/or a microparticle. The mass element may have dimensions in the range of 0.5 ?m to 2 ?m. The mass element may have dimensions in the range of 2 ?m to 10 ?m. The mass element may have dimensions in the range of 10 1.tm to 50 1.tm. The mass element may have dimensions in the range of 50 ?m to 100 ?m. The mass element may have dimensions in the range of 100 ?m to 500 ?m.
[0120] In one or more example methods, the regions of additional mass may form a periodic pattern (such as a hexagonal pattern) providing a phononic crystal structure on the first section of the thin film.
[0121] In one or more example methods, a region of additional mass may have a cylindrical shape. The region of additional mass may have a cube shape. The region of additional mass may have a cuboid shape. The region of additional mass may have a hemisphere shape.
[0122] In one or more example methods, the phononic crystal structure exhibits a defect for confining a mechanical oscillation mode of the membrane having a resonance frequency, f. In other words, the periodic pattern of additional mass regions may have a missing additional mass region.
[0123] In one or more example methods, providing a multitude of discrete mass elements on a first section of the thin film comprises introducing a defect by removing one or more discrete mass elements.
[0124] In one or more example methods, the defect may be introduced by removing the additional mass regions on the thin film. In one or more example methods, the defect may take a circular shape, a square shape, a hexagon shape, a rectangle shape, a rhombus shape, a triangle shape, a pentagon shape, and/or a polygon shape.
[0125] In one or more example methods, the defect (such as the missing additional mass region) may be introduced during the fabrication process. In one or more example methods, the defect may be introduced after the fabrication process. The defect may be introduced by using lithography techniques (such as optical lithography, electron lithography, x-ray lithography, and/or ion lithography) combined with material etching technique (such as wet etching techniques, and/or dry etching techniques such as reactive ion etching (RIE))
[0126] In one or more example methods, the mass elements have a minimum lateral dimension of less than 1/5, such as less than 1/8 or less than 1/10 or less than 1/15 or less than 1/20 of the wavelength of the mechanical oscillation mode.
[0127] The method 100 comprises shaping S106 the substrate to expose the first section of the thin film to form an unsupported membrane. In one or more example methods, shaping S106 the substrate to expose the first section of the thin film comprises etching of the supporting substrate by using wet etching techniques (such as by using potassium hydroxide, KOH, etching), and/or dry etching techniques.
[0128] The best samples had Qf products of 8?10.sup.14 Hz at 1.41 MHz corresponding to Q=5.65?10.sup.8, which is higher than presently reported anywhere else for thin film membranes and only beaten by strain engineered phononic strings.
Appendix A
[0129] Which type of effective material density model is suitable for phononic crystals? If one assumes a membrane with no holes or features etched into it, the stress will be completely uniform. Far away from any boundaries the physics will then be completely described by a simple isotropic wave equation of the form
[0130] which from a mathematically point of view is very similar to optical waves. It is then intuitive to generate direct mechanical analogues based on common photonic crystal designs. An often seen pattern with good bandgap properties is a binary distribution of circular shaped air domains placed on a hexagonal pattern in a dielectric material [1]. The circles represent high phase-velocity domains whereas the surrounding domain are slow phase-velocity. To limit the amount of mass getting added to the membrane an inverted adaptation of this distribution was studied as well as a softer sine-like distribution to demonstrate the flexibility of this scheme and compare the effects. These are shown in
and similarly for the sine-like distribution
with g.sub.sine(x, y)defined in the same manner as g.sub.bin(x, y). The effective density is then given by ?.sub.eff(x,y)=?.Math.gp.sub.i(x, y) where i={bin ,sine}.
[0131] Both of these distributions have a few degrees of freedom. When ignoring the pillars these are: The maximum relative effective density g.sub.max, relative distribution width ?.sub.w and the phononic crystal periodicity ?.sub.ph. These will be explored in the next section.
[0132] Optimizing the density phononic crystal
[0133] How one eventually chooses to design the density phononic crystal has a huge effect on how well any modes confined to a defect will end up performing. A wide bandgap ensures an efficient isolation of the mode. However, the distribution may also be designed to prevent additional design-induced losses. Finally, while a large effective density contrast will generate a correspondingly wide bandgap, it is also increasingly difficult to fabricate, thus the lowest possible contrast may be used. All these factors were studied for the two proposed distributions presented in the previous section.
[0134] On
[0135] How does one then pick the optimal set of parameters for a given density phononic distribution? For ultra-coherent resonators the important figure of merit is the Q?f product where f.sub.c is the center frequency. Since a wide bandwidth is desirable, a proposed figure of merit for choosing the optimum bandgap design is
This is also shown on
[0136] The same study was performed for the sine-like distribution and presented in
Phononic Membrane Designs
[0137] Next step in the design process is to use the knowledge obtained from the phononic crystal analysis to design full-scale membranes. This section presents the membrane designs developed and discusses how the defects can be engineered to properly confine a mode interest. Two main designs were developed: [0138] DP1: Binary density model with ?.sub.w=0.4, ?.sub.ph=198.8 ?m, g.sub.max=5 and g.sub.cmax=3.9. [0139] DP2: Sine-like density model with ?.sub.w=0.4, ?.sub.ph=198.8 ?m, g.sub.max=5 and g.sub.cmax=3.9.
[0140] The g.sub.cmax parameter will become apparent later. Both of the designs were engineered to have a defect- confined mode at exactly 1.4 MHz at the center of the bandgap. The PnC pattern designs and characteristics are shown on
[0141] The density model for DP1 in
[0142] Simulations of the defect confined mode is shown
[0143] The mass element density distribution for DP2 at
[0144] A further design parameter is how many phononic crystal cells (i.e. number of repetitions of the pattern) are needed for proper mode confinement, N.sub.ph. This number depends on the damping mechanism. For intrinsic losses one needs to keep adding more crystals until the boundary bending losses become insignificantly small. For phonon tunneling losses one needs to reduce the coupling to the substrate until only the intrinsic losses dominate. The risk of resonant coupling to a substrate mode might lead to a large mode isolation requirement, but this has so far not been investigated. One may choose to be on the safe side and simply fabricate huge membranes with many cells. However, huge membranes, especially thin highly stressed membranes, are increasingly difficult to fabricate as the size goes up. A study was performed to numerically estimate the required number of cells. For simplicity, only the intrinsic losses were considered. Moreover, a hexagonal window was assumed as this fits naturally with the lattice as shown on
[0145] From the simulations it is clear how even the small difference in bandgap width affects the required number of phononic crystal cells. For DP1 the minimum number of cells needed is approximately N.sub.ph=7 and for DP2 it is around N.sub.ph=9. This small difference can lead to a significant difference in yield during fabrication, since this directly correlates to larger membranes, which are more difficult to fabricate. However, above this limit DP2 is predicted to have a slightly higher quality factor, which is expected based on the prior phononic crystal analysis.
References:
[0146] [1] J. D. Joannopoulos, R. D. Meade, and J. N. Winn, PhotonicCrystals: Molding the Flow of Light, Second Edi, Vol. 3 (Princeton University Press, Singapore, 1995).
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