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We present the first group of GHz broadband SH0 mode acoustic delay lines (ADLs). The implemented ADLs adopt unidirectional transducer designs in a suspended X-cut lithium niobate thin film. The design space of the SH0 mode ADLs at GHz is first theoretically investigated, showing that the large coupling and sufficient spectral clearance to adjacent modes collectively enable the broadband performance of SH0 delay lines. The fabricated devices show 3-dB fractional bandwidth ranging from 4% to 34.3% insertion loss between 3.4 and 11.3 dB. Multiple delay lines have been demonstrated with center frequencies from 0.7 to 1.2 GHz, showing great frequency scalability. The propagation characteristics of SH0 in lithium niobate thin film are experimentally extracted. The demonstrated ADLs can potentially facilitate broadband signal processing applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present the first group of gigahertz S0 mode low loss and wideband acoustic delay lines (ADLs). The ADLs use a single-phase unidirectional transducers (SPUDT) design to launch and propagate the S0 mode in an X-cut lithium niobate thin film with large electromechanical coupling and low damping. In this work, the theoretical performance bounds of S0 mode ADLs are first investigated, significantly surpassing those in state-of-the-art. The design tradeoffs of S0 mode ADLs, when scaled to the gigahertz frequency range, are also discussed. The fabricated miniature ADLs show a fractional bandwidth (FBW) of 4% and a minimum insertion loss (IL) of 3.2 dB, outperforming the incumbent surface acoustic wave (SAW) counterparts, and covering a wide range of delays from 20 to 900 ns for digitally addressable delay synthesis. Multiple ADLs with center frequencies from 0.9 to 2 GHz have been demonstrated, underscoring their great frequency scalability. The propagation properties of S0 waves in lithium niobate at the gigahertz range are experimentally extracted. The demonstrated ADLs can potentially enable wide-range and high-resolution delay synthesis that is highly sought after for the self-interference cancellation in full-duplex radios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper demonstrates low-loss acoustic delay lines (ADLs) based on shear-horizontal waves in thin-film LiNbO3 for the first time. Due to its high electromechanical coupling, the shear-horizontal mode is suited for producing devices with large bandwidths. Here, we show that shear-horizontal waves in LiNbO3 thin films are also excellent for implementing low-loss ADLs based on unidirectional transducers. The high acoustic reflections and large transducer unidirectionality induced by the mechanical loading of the electrodes on a LiNbO3 thin film provide a great tradeoff between delay line insertion loss and bandwidth. The directionality for two different types of unidirectional transducers has been characterized. Delay lines with variations in the key design parameters have been designed, fabricated, and measured. One of our fabricated devices has shown a group delay of 75 ns with an IL below 2 dB over a 3-dB bandwidth of 16 MHz centered at 160 MHz (fractional bandwidth = 10%). The measured insertion loss for other devices with longer delays and different numbers of transducer cells are analyzed, and the loss contributing factors and their possible mitigation are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper demonstrates the first nonreciprocal network based on switched low-loss acoustic delay lines. The four-port circulator is built upon a recently reported frequency-independent, programmable, nonreciprocal framework based on switched delay lines. The design space for such a system, including the origins of the insertion loss (IL) and harmonic responses, is theoretically investigated, illustrating that the key to better performance and low-cost modulation signal synthesis lies in a large delay. To implement a large delay, we resort to in-house fabricated low-loss, wideband lithium niobate (LiNbO3)SH0 mode acoustic delay lines employing single-phase unidirectional transducers. The four-port circulator, consisting of two switch modules and one delay line module, has been modularly designed, assembled, and tested. The design process employs time-domain full circuit simulation, and the results match well with measurements. An 18.8-dB nonreciprocal contrast between IL (6.6 dB) and isolation (25.4 dB) has been achieved over a fractional bandwidth of 8.8% at a center frequency 155 MHz, using a record low switching frequency of 877.19 kHz. The circulator also shows 25.9-dB suppression for the intramodulated tone and 30 dBm for IIP3. Upon further development, such a system can potentially lead to future wideband, low-loss chip-scale nonreciprocal radio frequency systems with unprecedented programmability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An RF oscillator has been demonstrated using a wideband SH0 mode lithium niobate acoustic delay line (ADL). The design space of the ADL-based oscillators is theoretically investigated using the classical linear time-invariant (LTI) phase noise model. The analysis reveals that the key to low phase noise is low insertion loss (IL), large delay (τG), and high carrier frequency (ƒo). Two SH0 ADL oscillators based on a single SH0 ADL (fo = 157 MHz, IL = 3.2 dB, ƒG = 270 ns) but with different loop amplifiers have been measured, showing low phase noise of −114 dBc/Hz and −127 dBc/Hz at 10-kHz offset with a carrier power level of −8 dBm and 0.5 dBm, respectively. These oscillators not only have surpassed other Lamb wave delay oscillators but also compete favorably with surface acoustic wave (SAW) delay line oscillators in performance. [2019-0223] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports the first demonstration of phononic crystals (PnCs) in suspended lithium niobate thin films, which exhibit band gaps for tailoring the performance of laterally vibrating devices. Transmission and reflection properties of lithium niobate PnCs for both shear-horizontal (SH0) and length-extensional (S0) modes have been investigated and subsequently explored in two applications. In the first case, PnC-embedded delay lines were designed for filtering with stopbands, while in the second case, PnC-bounded resonators were implemented for spurious mode suppression. Equivalent circuit models incorporating acoustic scattering parameters of the designed PnCs and Mason’s model of the transducers have been built for each application. Benchmarked to reference devices without PnCs, the measured PnCs embedded in delay lines show 20-dB attenuation in the stopbands and less than 2-dB loss in the passbands for the SH0 mode, and 30-dB attenuation in the stopbands and less than 10-dB loss in the passbands for the S0 mode. The fabricated piezoelectric PnC-bounded resonator has shown a quality factor of 434 at 142.7 MHz with undesired spurious modes significantly suppressed. These demonstrations show that lithium niobate PnCs for laterally vibrating devices can potentially lead to wideband and low-loss acoustic functions for radio frequency signal processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the first demonstration of chirp compressors based on laterally vibrating modes in suspended lithium niobate thin films. Both shear-horizontal and length-extensional modes have been explored and demonstrated with the electromechanical coupling coefficients of 30% and 39%, respectively, in a double-dispersive delay line structure. The high electromechanical coupling, along with the low propagation loss in the suspended thin film, produces a low insertion loss of 10 dB over a large fractional bandwidth of 50%. The best fabricated device demonstrates a delay-bandwidth product of 100, and provides a voltage gain of 5 to the corresponding chirp signals. Moreover, significant signal-to-noise ratio enhancements (>100), collectively enabled by the processing gain and filtering characteristics of the chirp compressors, have been demonstrated. The measured devices, in this paper, greatly outperform state-of-the-art chirp compressors based on surface acoustic waves in insertion loss for a comparable TB. As a result, signal-to-noise ratio enhancement and voltage gain have been simultaneously demonstrated for the first time in a passive device and the analog domain. The high performance can be harnessed to greatly enhance the sensitivity of near zero power wake-up radio receivers and enable low-power wireless connectivity for Internet of Things applications. [2017–0126] [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]