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In this work, thin-film lithium niobate (LiNbO3) acoustic delay line (ADL) based oscillators are experimentally investigated for the first time for the application of single-mode oscillators and frequency comb generation. The design space for the ADL-based oscillator is first analyzed, illustrating that the key to low phase noise lies in high center frequency (fo), large delay (τ G), and low insertion loss (IL) of the delay. Therefore, two self-sustained oscillators employing low noise amplifiers (LNA) and a low IL, long delay (fo=157MHz, IL =2.9dB, τG= 200-440ns) SH0 mode ADLs are designed for a case study. The two SH0 ADL oscillators show measured phase noise of -109 dBc/Hz and -127 dBc/Hz at 10-kHz offset while consuming 16 mA and 48 mA supply currents, respectively. Although the carrier power of the proposed oscillator is lower than published state-of-the-art ADL oscillators, competitive phase noise performance is still attained thanks to the low IL. Finally, frequency comb generation is also demonstrated with the same delay line and a commercial RF feedback amplifier, showing a comb spacing of 3.4 MHz that matches the open-loop characterization., Accepted Author Manuscript, Dynamics of Micro and Nano Systems

We present the first group of acoustic delay lines (ADLs) at 5 GHz using the first-order antisymmetric (A1) mode in Z-cut lithium niobate thin films. The demonstrated ADLs significantly surpass the operation frequencies of the prior art with similar feature sizes because of their simultaneously fast phase velocity, large coupling coefficient, and low loss. In this article, the propagation characteristics of the A1 mode in lithium niobate are analytically modeled and validated with finite element analysis. The design space of A1 ADLs is then investigated, including both the fundamental design parameters and those introduced from the practical implementation. The implemented ADLs at 5 GHz show a minimum insertion loss of 7.9 dB, an average insertion loss (IL) of 9.1 dB, and a fractional bandwidth around 4%, with group delays ranging between 15 and 109 ns and the center frequencies between 4.5 and 5.25 GHz. The propagation characteristics of A1 mode acoustic waves have also been extracted for the first time. The A1 ADL platform can potentially enable wideband high-frequency passive signal processing functions for future 5G applications in the sub-6-GHz spectrum bands. © 1963-2012 IEEE.

We present the first group of acoustic delay lines (ADLs) at 5 GHz using the first-order antisymmetric (A1) mode in Z-cut lithium niobate thin films. The demonstrated ADLs significantly surpass the operation frequencies of the prior art with similar feature sizes because of their simultaneously fast phase velocity, large coupling coefficient, and low loss. In this article, the propagation characteristics of the A1 mode in lithium niobate are analytically modeled and validated with finite element analysis. The design space of A1 ADLs is then investigated, including both the fundamental design parameters and those introduced from the practical implementation. The implemented ADLs at 5 GHz show a minimum insertion loss of 7.9 dB, an average insertion loss (IL) of 9.1 dB, and a fractional bandwidth around 4%, with group delays ranging between 15 and 109 ns and the center frequencies between 4.5 and 5.25 GHz. The propagation characteristics of A1 mode acoustic waves have also been extracted for the first time. The A1 ADL platform can potentially enable wideband high-frequency passive signal processing functions for future 5G applications in the sub-6-GHz spectrum bands. © 1963-2012 IEEE.

We present the first group of acoustic delay lines (ADLs) at 5 GHz using the first-order antisymmetric (A1) mode in Z-cut lithium niobate thin films. The demonstrated ADLs significantly surpass the operation frequencies of the prior art with similar feature sizes because of their simultaneously fast phase velocity, large coupling coefficient, and low loss. In this article, the propagation characteristics of the A1 mode in lithium niobate are analytically modeled and validated with finite element analysis. The design space of A1 ADLs is then investigated, including both the fundamental design parameters and those introduced from the practical implementation. The implemented ADLs at 5 GHz show a minimum insertion loss of 7.9 dB, an average insertion loss (IL) of 9.1 dB, and a fractional bandwidth around 4%, with group delays ranging between 15 and 109 ns and the center frequencies between 4.5 and 5.25 GHz. The propagation characteristics of A1 mode acoustic waves have also been extracted for the first time. The A1 ADL platform can potentially enable wideband high-frequency passive signal processing functions for future 5G applications in the sub-6-GHz spectrum bands. © 1963-2012 IEEE.

In this work, we demonstrate, for the first time, a micro-oven-integrated 170 MHz microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) resonator array implemented in a 36°-rotated-Y-Cut lithium niobate on silicon oxide (LN-OX) platform using the fundamental shear horizontal (SH0) mode. The array not only attains a high heating efficiency of 33 K/mW but also exhibits a promising electromechanical coupling coefficient ( kt 2 ) of 9.6%, a quality factor ( Q) of 1360, a resulting figure of merit ( FoM=kt 2 ·Q) of 130, and a passively-compensated temperature coefficient of frequency (TCF) of 13.8 ppm/K. The design of the individual resonator in the array, namely a weighted 3-electrode resonator with embedded heaters on the suspended busbars, is the key to achieving the high heating efficiency while mitigating spurious modes across a wide frequency span (100-300 MHz).

In this work, we demonstrate, for the first time, a micro-oven-integrated 170 MHz microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) resonator array implemented in a 36°-rotated-Y-Cut lithium niobate on silicon oxide (LN-OX) platform using the fundamental shear horizontal (SH0) mode. The array not only attains a high heating efficiency of 33 K/mW but also exhibits a promising electromechanical coupling coefficient ( kt 2 ) of 9.6%, a quality factor ( Q) of 1360, a resulting figure of merit ( FoM=kt 2 ·Q) of 130, and a passively-compensated temperature coefficient of frequency (TCF) of 13.8 ppm/K. The design of the individual resonator in the array, namely a weighted 3-electrode resonator with embedded heaters on the suspended busbars, is the key to achieving the high heating efficiency while mitigating spurious modes across a wide frequency span (100-300 MHz).

In this work, we demonstrate, for the first time, a micro-oven-integrated 170 MHz microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) resonator array implemented in a 36°-rotated-Y-Cut lithium niobate on silicon oxide (LN-OX) platform using the fundamental shear horizontal (SH0) mode. The array not only attains a high heating efficiency of 33 K/mW but also exhibits a promising electromechanical coupling coefficient ( kt 2 ) of 9.6%, a quality factor ( Q) of 1360, a resulting figure of merit ( FoM=kt 2 ·Q) of 130, and a passively-compensated temperature coefficient of frequency (TCF) of 13.8 ppm/K. The design of the individual resonator in the array, namely a weighted 3-electrode resonator with embedded heaters on the suspended busbars, is the key to achieving the high heating efficiency while mitigating spurious modes across a wide frequency span (100-300 MHz).