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This work demonstrates super-high frequency wave-guided surface acoustic wave (SAW) devices based on LiNbO3/SiO2/Si layered substrates. SAW resonators with fundamental operating frequency to the 7-GHz range were developed, and wave modes like the Rayleigh, Shear-horizontal ( SH), Pseudo-Bulk, etc., were observed. Furthermore, effective coupling coefficients ( k2 eff) and quality factor ( Q) of the devices have been investigated systematically. Specifically, spurious-free SAW resonators with the SH wave frequency over 7.40 GHz and the high k2 eff value of ∼7.8% were obtained at a nanoscale wavelength of 480 nm. Finally, high-performance filters with a bandwidth over 300 MHz were achieved. The demonstrated filters show sharp roll-off and spurious-free responses within the passband with insertion loss 3 film can potentially enable the low-loss and wideband signal processing functions, promising for the next-generation radio frequency front-end system applications.

AlN and AlScN thin films with 27% scandium (Sc) were synthesized by DC magnetron sputtering deposition and used to fabricate surface acoustic wave (SAW) devices. Compared with AlN-based devices, the AlScN SAW devices exhibit much better transmission properties. Scandium doping results in electromechanical coupling coefficient, K2, in the range of 2.0% ∼ 2.2% for a wide normalized thickness range, more than a 300% increase compared to that of AlN-based SAW devices, thus demonstrating the potential applications of AlScN in high frequency resonators, sensors, and high efficiency energy harvesting devices. The coupling coefficients of the present AlScN based SAW devices are much higher than that of the theoretical calculation based on some assumptions for AlScN piezoelectric material properties, implying there is a need for in-depth investigations on the material properties of AlScN.

Rayleigh surface acoustic wave (SAW) devices based on 128° YX LiNbO3 and ZnO/Si substrates with different resonant frequencies from ∼62 MHz to ∼275 MHz were fabricated and characterized. Effects of SAW frequency and power on microfluidic performance (including streaming, pumping, and jetting) were investigated. SAW excitation frequency influenced the SAW attenuation length and hence the acoustic energy absorbed by the liquid. At higher frequencies (e.g., above 100 MHz), the SAW dissipated into liquid decays more rapidly with much shorter decay lengths. Increasing the radio frequency (RF) frequencies of the devices resulted in an increased power threshold for streaming, pumping, and especially jetting, which is attributed to an increased absorption rate of acoustic wave energy. ZnO SAW devices could achieve similar streaming, pumping, and jetting effects as well as frequency effect, although the SAW signals are relatively weaker.

Bendable surface acoustic wave (SAW) devices were fabricated using high quality c-axis orientation ZnO films deposited on flexible polyethylene terephthalate substrates at 120 °C. Dual resonance modes, namely, the zero order pseudo asymmetric (A0) and symmetric (S0) Lamb wave modes, have been obtained from the SAW devices. The SAW devices perform well even after repeated flexion up to 2500 μe for 100 times, demonstrating its suitability for flexible electronics application. The SAW devices are also highly sensitive to compressive and tensile strains, exhibiting excellent anti-strain deterioration property, thus, they are particularly suitable for sensing large strains.

Surface acoustic wave (SAW) based ultraviolet (UV) light sensors have a high sensitivity and have been extensively studied and explored for application. However, all of them were made of piezoelectric (PE) bulk materials or PE thin films on crystalline substrates such as Si and sapphire. This paper reports the fabrication of ZnO thin film SAW UV-light sensors on glass substrates and the effect of post-deposition thermal annealing on the sensing performance. It was found that annealing at temperatures higher than 300 °C can improve the properties of ZnO films and the sensing performance of the UV-sensors remarkably. When the ZnO film annealed at 400 °C was used for sensors, the UV light induced resonant frequency shift increased more than 20 times with the response speed reduced to less than 2.4 s, much better than those made on ZnO films with lower temperature annealing.

This paper reports the fabrication of flexible surface acoustic wave (SAW) devices on ZnO/polyimide substrates and investigation of the effects of the deposition conditions, crystal quality, and film thickness of the ZnO films on the performance of the SAW devices. The deposition pressure has a significant effect on the crystal quality of the ZnO film, and which in turn affects the transmission of the SAW devices strongly. The device performance improves greatly and is mainly attributed to the better crystal quality of the film deposited at high pressure. The performance of the SAW devices also improves significantly with increase in ZnO film thickness, owing to the reduced defects and improved piezoelectric effect for the films with large grain sizes and better crystallinity as the film thickness increases. Flexible SAW devices with a resonant frequency of 153 MHz, a phase velocity of 1836 m/s, and a coupling coefficient of 0.79% were obtained on the ZnO film of 4 μm thickness, demonstrated its great potential for applications in electronics and microsystems.