A Novel Bulk Acoustic Wave Resonator for Filters and Sensors Applications

Bulk acoustic wave (BAW) resonators are widely applied in filters and gravimetric sensors for physical or biochemical sensing. In this work, a new architecture of BAW resonator is demonstrated, which introduces a pair of reflection layers onto the top of a thin film bulk acoustic resonator (FBAR) device. The new device can be transformed between type I and type II dispersions by varying the thicknesses of the reflection layers. A computational modeling is developed to fully investigate the acoustic waves and the dispersion types of the device theoretically. The novel structure makes it feasible to fabricate both type resonators in one filter, which offers an effective alternative to improve the pass band flatness in the filter. Additionally, this new device exhibits a high quality factor (Q) in the liquid, which opens a possibility for real time measurement in solutions with a superior limitation of detection (LOD) in sensor applications.