Precise measurements of BAW and SAW properties of Langasite in the temperature range from 25°C to 1000°C

There is a high demand for wireless sensing devices in harsh environments for industrial applications. For temperatures above 250degC, silicon-based sensors cannot be used. In contrast, bulk acoustic wave (BAW) and surface acoustic wave (SAW) devices are still suitable for this purpose. Further high-temperature applications include thermogravimetry on small volumes and gas sensing based on stoichiometry change of thin sensor films. Langasite (La
₃
Ga
₅
SiO
₁₄
) is a piezoelectric single crystal that preserves its piezoelectric properties and is chemically stable up to its melting point at 1470degC without any phase transition and, therefore, is a promising material for high-temperature devices. Using a resonance-antiresonance method based on bulk oscillations, all components of elastic and piezoelectric tensors of langasite have been determined at temperatures up to 900deg C. Resonance spectra of several langasite samples have been measured and fitted with the impedance calculated from a one-dimensional physical model of piezoelectric bodies vibrating in several modes. In order to extract the electromechanical parameters, different resonator geometries and orientations are used. Also, the results of measurements are presented for SAW devices on langasite at temperatures from 25 to 750deg C. Two cuts with Euler angles (0deg, 138.5deg,26.6deg) and (0deg,30.1deg,26.6deg) have been studied. The devices were fabricated with a platinum (Pt) layer with different heights on a zirconium (Zr) adhesion layer. The main material parameters relevant for SAW devices such as phase velocity v
_p
, propagation loss alpha and coupling coefficient k
²
have been obtained. The measured SAW phase velocities compare well with those calculated with the elastic and piezoelectric tensors obtained by bulk-oscillation measurements.