Similar articles

Abstract: Surface acoustic wave (SAW) sensors and micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) technology provide a promising solution for measurement in harsh environments such as gas turbines. In this paper, a SAW resonator (size: 1107 µm× 721 µm) based on the alN/4H-SiC multilayer structure is designed and simulated. A MEMS-compatible fabrication process is employed to fabricate the resonator. The results show that highly c-axis-oriented AlN thin films deposited on the 4H-SiC substrate are obtained, with that the diffraction peak of AlN is 36.10° and the lowest full width at half maximum (FWHM) value is only 1.19°. The test results of the network analyzer are consistent with the simulation curve, which is very encouraging and indicates that our work is a significant attempt to solve the measurement problems mainly including high temperature stability of sensitive structures and the heat transmission of leads in harsh environments. It is essential to get the best performance of SAW resonator, optimize and characterize the behaviors in high temperatures in future research.

In this work, AlN thin films growth on the 4H-SiC substrate are characterized and the behaviors of the surface acoustic wave devices on AlN/4H-SiC media are also studied. As suggested by the authors, this material stack is potential for passive wireless SAW sensors in the harsh environment.

面向恶劣环境的基于AlN/4H-SiC材料的声表面波谐振器设计与制作

[1]Al tahtamouni, T.M., Lin, J.Y., Jiang, H.X., 2012. High quality AlN grown on double layer AlN buffers on SiC substrate for deep ultraviolet photodetectors. Applied Physics Letters, 101(19):192106.

[2]Aubert, T., Elmazria, O., Assouar, B., et al., 2010. Surface acoustic wave devices based on AlN/sapphire structure for high temperature applications. Applied Physics Letters, 96(20):203503.

[3]Aubert, T., Bardong, J., Legrani, O., et al., 2013. In situ high-temperature characterization of AlN-based surface acoustic wave devices. Journal of Applied Physics, 114(1):014505.

[4]Beshkova, M., Zakhariev, Z., Birch, J., et al., 2003. Sublimation epitaxy of AlN layers on 4H-SiC depending on the type of crucible. Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics, 14(10):767-768.

[5]Chen, Z., Newman, S., Brown, D., et al., 2008. High quality AlN grown on SiC by metal organic chemical vapor deposition. Applied Physics Letters, 93(19):191906.

[6]Cho, E., Mogilatenko, A., Brunner, F., et al., 2013. Impact of AlN nucleation layer on strain in GaN grown on 4H-SiC substrates. Journal of Crystal Growth, 371:45-49.

[7]Du, X.Y., 2012. Design and Fabrication of a Prototype Aluminum Nitride-based Pressure Sensor with Finite Element Analysis and Validation. PhD Thesis, Wayne State University, Detroit, USA.

[8]Elmazria, O., Aubert, T., 2011. Wireless SAW sensor for high temperature applications: material point of view. SPIE Microtechnologies, International Society for Optics and Photonics, No.806602.

[9]Ferro, G., Okumura, H., Yoshida, S., 2000. Growth mode of AlN epitaxial layers on 6H-SiC by plasma assisted molecular beam epitaxy. Journal of Crystal Growth, 209(2-3):415-418.

[10]Fraga, M.A., Furlan, H., Pessoa, R.S., et al., 2014. Wide band gap semiconductor thin films for piezoelectric and piezoresistive MEMS sensors applied at high temperatures: an overview. Microsystem Technologies, 20(1):9-21.

[11]Greve, D.W., Chin, T.L., Zheng, P., et al., 2013. Surface acoustic wave devices for harsh environment wireless sensing. Sensors, 13(6):6910-6935.

[12]Iriarte, G.F., Reyes, D.F., Gonzalez, D., et al., 2011. Influence of substrate crystallography on the room temperature synthesis of AlN thin films by reactive sputtering. Applied Surface Science, 257(22):9306-9313.

[13]Jiang, X.N., Kim, K., Zhang, S.J., et al., 2013. High-temperature piezoelectric sensing. Sensors, 14(1):144-169.

[14]Kim, M., Ohta, J., Kobayashi, A., et al., 2008. Low-temperature growth of high quality AlN films on carbon face 6H-SiC. physica status solidi (RRL)–Rapid Research Letters, 2(1):13-15.

[15]Kitagawa, S., Miyake, H., Hiramatsu, K., 2014. High-quality AlN growth on 6H-SiC substrate using three dimensional nucleation by low-pressure hydride vapor phase epitaxy. Japanese Journal of Applied Physics, 53(5S1):05FL03.

[16]Kuang, X.P., Zhang, H.Y., Wang, G.G., et al., 2012. AlN films prepared on 6H–SiC substrates under various sputtering pressures by RF reactive magnetron sputtering. Applied Surface Science, 263:62-68.

[17]Lin, C.M., Lien, W.C., Felmetsger, V.V., et al., 2010a. AlN thin films grown on epitaxial 3C–SiC (100) for piezoelectric resonant devices. Applied Physics Letters, 97(14):141907.

[18]Lin, C.M., Lien, W.C., Yen, T.T., et al., 2010b. Growth of highly c-axis oriented AlN films on 3C–SiC/Si substrate. Solid-State Sensors, Actuators, and Microsystems Workshop, p.324-327.

[19]Lin, C.M., Chen, Y.Y., Felmetsger, V.V., et al., 2013. Surface acoustic wave devices on AlN/3C-SiC/Si multilayer structures. Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering, 23(2):025019.

[20]Liu, B.Q., Zhang, C.R., Ji, X.J., et al., 2014. An improved performance frequency estimation algorithm for passive wireless SAW resonant sensors. Sensors, 14(12):22261-22273.

[21]Liu, H.Y., Tang, G.S., Zeng, F., et al., 2013. Influence of sputtering parameters on structures and residual stress of AlN films deposited by DC reactive magnetron sputtering at room temperature. Journal of Crystal Growth, 363:80-85.

[22]Liu, L., Edgar, J.H., 2002. Substrates for gallium nitride epitaxy. Materials Science and Engineering: R: Reports, 37(3):61-127.

[23]Pisano, A.P., 2009. Harsh Environment Wireless MEMS Sensors for Energy & Power. Technical Report, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of California, Berkeley, USA.

[24]Senesky, D.G., 2013. Wide bandgap semiconductors for sensing within extreme harsh environments. ECS Transactions, 50(6):233-238.

[25]Senesky, D.G., Jamshidi, B., Cheng, K.B., et al., 2009. Harsh environment silicon carbide sensors for health and performance monitoring of aerospace systems: a review. IEEE Sensors Journal, 9(11):1472-1478.

[26]Takagaki, Y., Santos, P.V., Wiebicke, E., et al., 2002. Superhigh-frequency surface-acoustic-wave transducers using AlN layers grown on SiC substrates. Applied Physics Letters, 81(14):2538-2540.

[27]Thompson, H.A., 2004. Wireless and internet communications technologies for monitoring and control. Control Engineering Practice, 12(6):781-791.

[28]Tungasmita, S., Birch, J., Persson, P.O.A., et al., 2000. Enhanced quality of epitaxial AlN thin films on 6H–SiC by ultra-high-vacuum ion-assisted reactive DC magnetron sputter deposition. Applied Physics Letters, 76(2):170-172.

[29]Wang, Z.P., Morimoto, A., Kawae, T., et al., 2011. Growth of preferentially-oriented AlN films on amorphous substrate by pulsed laser deposition. Physics Letters A, 375(33):3007-3011.

[30]Ye, X.S., Fang, L., Liang, B., et al., 2011. Studies of a high-sensitive surface acoustic wave sensor for passive wireless blood pressure measurement. Sensors and Actuators A: Physical, 169(1):74-82.

[31]You, Z., Wang, W.Z., Chen, S., et al., 2014. Applications of wireless MEMS sensing system in gas turbine and harsh environment. Acta Aeronautica et Astronautica Sinica, 35(8):2081-2090 (in Chinese).