Acoustic resonators with reduced mechanical clamping for enhanced shear-mode response

Abstract

The present disclosure provides an acoustic resonator with reduced mechanical clamping of the active region for enhanced shear mode response. More specifically, the present disclosure provides a solid-state fabricated BAW resonator device having an active region of piezoelectric material laterally surrounded by an inactive region with reduced piezoelectric material thickness such that at least along the boundary of the active region The upper part of the dead zone has no piezoelectric material. The resonator device provides a discontinuity along opposite lateral edges of the piezoelectric material of the active region to reduce mechanical pinching of the active region in the direction of maximum lateral displacement in shear mode operation. Increasing the mechanical isolation of the active region of piezoelectric material reduces the mechanical damping of lateral vibrations of the active region, which enhances the shear mode response for quasi-shear mode sensing.

Description

[0001] Statement of relevant application [0002] This application claims the benefit of Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 62 / 257,954, filed November 20, 2015, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. technical field [0003] The present disclosure relates to resonator structures, and in particular bulk acoustic wave resonator structures with reduced mechanical constraints, such as may be usefully incorporated into fluidic devices and related systems suitable for biosensing or biochemical sensing applications. Background technique [0004] A biosensor (or biological sensor) is an analytical device that includes a biological element and a transducer that converts the biological response into an electrical signal. Certain biosensors involve selective biochemical reactions between specific binding materials (e.g., antibodies, receptors, ligands, etc.) and target species (e.g., molecules, proteins, DNA, viruses, bacteria, etc.), and th...

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Problems solved by technology

In particular, such mechanical clamping tends to damp shear-mode vibrations in the active region (e.g., shear-mode response, shear displacement, etc.), thereby limiting the detection sensitivity and performance of BAW resonator devices.

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