IP Library Granted Patent US 11,646,717
Granted Patent B2
US 11,646,717 · App. 17/888,164 · Granted May 9, 2023

Acoustic wave resonator, RF filter circuit device and system

Inventors: Jeffrey B. Shealy (Cornelius, NC); Michael D. Hodge (Belmont, NC); Rohan W. Houlden (Oak Ridge, NC); Shawn R. Gibb (Huntersville, NC); Mary Winters (Webster, NY); Ramakrishna Vetury (Charlotte, NC); David M. Aichele (Huntersville, NC)
Assignee: Akoustis, Inc.
H03H9/605H03H9/02015H03H9/131H03H9/205
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 11,646,717
App. No.
17/888,164
Granted
May 9, 2023
Kind
B2
Abstract

An RF filter system including a plurality of BAW resonators arranged in a circuit, the circuit including a serial configuration of resonators and a parallel shunt configuration of resonators, the circuit having a circuit response corresponding to the serial configuration and the parallel configuration of the plurality of bulk acoustic wave resonators including a transmission loss from a pass band having a bandwidth from 5.170 GHz to 5.330 GHz. Resonators include a support member with a multilayer reflector structure; a first electrode including tungsten; a piezoelectric film including aluminum scandium nitride; a second electrode including tungsten; and a passivation layer including silicon nitride. At least one resonator includes at least a portion of the first electrode located within a cavity region defined by a surface of the support member.

Claims (43)

1. An RF filter system, comprising:

a plurality of bulk acoustic wave resonators arranged in a circuit, the circuit including a serial configuration of resonators and a parallel shunt configuration of resonators, the circuit having a circuit response corresponding to the serial configuration and the parallel configuration of the plurality of bulk acoustic wave resonators, each of the resonators of the plurality of resonators comprising:

a support member including a surface, the support member including a multilayer reflector structure including two pairs of a low impedance material layer and a high impedance material layer when the material layers are compared to each other;

a first electrode including tungsten overlying the multilayer reflector structure;

a piezoelectric film including aluminum scandium nitride overlapping the first electrode and overlying the multilayer reflector structure;

a second electrode including tungsten overlapping the piezoelectric film, overlapping the first electrode, and overlying the multilayer reflector structure; and

a passivation layer including silicon nitride overlying the second electrode; wherein,

portions of the surface of at least one support member define a cavity region, and at least one resonator of the plurality of bulk acoustic wave resonators includes at least a portion of the first electrode located within the cavity region defined by the surface of the support member; and

the circuit response corresponding to the serial configuration and the parallel configuration of the plurality of resonators has a pass band having a bandwidth from 5.170 GHz to 5.330 GHz.

2. The RF filter system of claim 1 , the circuit having a circuit topology, wherein the serial configuration of resonators and the parallel shunt configuration of resonators are arranged in a ladder circuit topology having an insertion loss of ≤2.1 dB.

3. The RF filter system of claim 2 , further comprising:

at least one resonator of the plurality of bulk acoustic wave resonators including at least one trimmed material layer such that the pass band of the circuit has the bandwidth from about 5.170 GHz to 5.350 GHz, the at least one trimmed material layer including at least one of the passivation layer and the second electrode having a thickness sufficient to provide the pass band having the bandwidth from 5.170 GHz to 5.330 GHz.

4. The RF filter system of claim 3 , wherein,

the at least one resonator of the plurality of bulk acoustic wave resonators including the at least a portion of the first electrode located within the cavity region of the support member, and

the at least one resonator of the plurality of bulk acoustic wave resonators including the at least one trimmed material layer,

are the same resonator.

5. The RF filter system of claim 4 , further comprising:

at least one resonator of the plurality of bulk acoustic wave resonators including at least one mass loaded structure overlying the second electrode of the at least one resonator, the passivation layer including silicon nitride of the at least one resonator overlying the at least one mass loaded structure.

6. The RF filter system of claim 1 , a resonator area being defined by an area where the second electrode, the piezoelectric film, and the first electrode overlap, the RF filter system further comprising:

at least one resonator of the plurality of bulk acoustic wave resonators including at least one trimmed material layer such that the pass band of the circuit has the bandwidth from 5.170 GHz to 5.330 GHz, wherein the at least one trimmed material layer includes a first thickness in the resonator area that is thinner than a second thickness in another area of the same material layer such that the pass band of the circuit has the bandwidth from 5.170 GHz to 5.330 GHz.

7. The RF filter system of claim 6 , wherein,

the at least one resonator of the plurality of bulk acoustic wave resonators including the at least a portion of the first electrode located within the cavity region of the support member, and

the at least one resonator of the plurality of bulk acoustic wave resonators including the at least one trimmed material layer,

are the same resonator.

8. The RF filter system of claim 7 , further comprising:

at least one resonator of the plurality of bulk acoustic wave resonators including at least one mass loaded structure overlying the second electrode of the at least one resonator, the passivation layer including silicon nitride of the at least one resonator overlying the at least one mass loaded structure.

9. The RF filter system of claim 8 , wherein,

the at least one resonator of the plurality of bulk acoustic wave resonators including the at least a portion of the first electrode located within the cavity region of the support member,

the at least one resonator of the plurality of bulk acoustic wave resonators including the at least one trimmed material layer, and

the at least one resonator of the plurality of bulk acoustic wave resonators including the at least one mass loaded structure,

are the same resonator.

10. The RF filter system of claim 9 , the circuit having a circuit topology, wherein the serial configuration of resonators and the parallel shunt configuration of resonators are arranged in a ladder circuit topology having an insertion loss of ≤2.1 dB.

11. The RF filter system of claim 1 , further comprising:

at least one resonator of the plurality of bulk acoustic wave resonators including at least one mass loaded structure overlying the second electrode of the at least one resonator, the passivation layer including silicon nitride of the at least one resonator resonators including the at least one mass loaded structure overlying the at least one mass loaded structure.

12. The RF filter system of claim 11 , wherein,

the at least one resonator of the plurality of bulk acoustic wave resonators including at least a portion of the first electrode located within the cavity region of the support member, and

the at least one resonator of the plurality of bulk acoustic wave resonators including the at least one mass loaded structure,

are the same resonator.

13. The RF filter system of claim 12 , a resonator area being defined by an area where the second electrode, the piezoelectric film, and the first electrode overlap, wherein the at least one mass loaded structure of the at least one resonator is located outside of the resonator area.

14. The RF filter system of claim 13 , wherein the at least one mass loaded structure of the at least one resonator surrounds the resonator area.

15. The RF filter system of claim 1 , wherein the piezoelectric film including aluminum scandium nitride is one of a single crystal piezoelectric film and a polycrystalline piezoelectric film.

16. The RF filter system of claim 1 , wherein the first electrode is located within the cavity region defined by the surface of the support member such that the surface of the support member is contiguous with an upper surface of the first electrode.

17. The RF filter system of claim 1 , wherein the support member includes a single material layer.

Assignments (4)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Jun 27, 2025
From: AKOUSTIS TECHNOLOGIES, INC.; AKOUSTIS, INC.; RFM INTEGRATED DEVICE INC.
To: TUNE HOLDINGS CORP.
Reel/Frame 071554/0143 →
CHANGE OF NAME Recorded Jun 27, 2025
From: TUNE HOLDINGS CORP.
To: AKOUSTIS TECHNOLOGIES CORP.
Reel/Frame 071768/0204 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Mar 16, 2023
From: GIBB, SHAWN R.
To: AKOUSTIS, INC.
Reel/Frame 063001/0730 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Aug 16, 2022
From: SHEALY, JEFFREY B.; HODGE, MICHAEL D.; HOULDEN, ROHAN W.; WINTERS, MARY; VETURY, RAMAKRISHNA; SHEN, YA; AICHELE, DAVID M.
To: AKOUSTIS, INC.
Reel/Frame 060819/0237 →
Continuity (28)
Continuation 17558147 · Dec 21, 2021
Continuation 17306132 · May 3, 2021
Continuation In Part 16828675 · Mar 24, 2020
Continuation In Part 16707885 · Dec 9, 2019
Continuation In Part 16290703 · Mar 1, 2019
Continuation In Part 16175650 · Oct 30, 2018
Continuation In Part 16019267 · Jun 26, 2018
Continuation In Part 15784919 · Oct 16, 2017
Continuation In Part 15068510 · Mar 11, 2016
Continuation In Part 16514717 · Jul 17, 2019
Continuation In Part 16290703 · Mar 1, 2019
Continuation In Part 16175650 · Oct 30, 2018
Continuation In Part 16019267 · Jun 26, 2018
Continuation In Part 15784919 · Oct 16, 2017
Continuation In Part 15068510 · Mar 11, 2016
Continuation In Part 16541076 · Aug 14, 2019
Continuation In Part 16290703 · Mar 1, 2019
Continuation In Part 16175650 · Oct 30, 2018
Continuation In Part 16019267 · Jun 26, 2018
Continuation In Part 15784919 · Oct 16, 2017
Continuation In Part 15068510 · Mar 11, 2016
Continuation In Part 16391191 · Apr 22, 2019
Continuation In Part 16290703 · Mar 1, 2019
Continuation In Part 16175650 · Oct 30, 2018
Continuation In Part 16019267 · Jun 26, 2018
Continuation In Part 15784919 · Oct 16, 2017
Continuation In Part 15068510 · Mar 11, 2016
Related Publication 20220393667A1 · Dec 8, 2022
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