Prototype Design of a Thin-Film Bulk Acoustic-Wave Resonator by the Finite Element Method

A thin film bulk acoustic wave resonator (FBAR) used in the RF frequency region of a few gigahertz is considered and its impedance is evaluated by using a harmonic analysis with the three-dimensional finite element method. In particular, the spurious characteristics caused by variations in the electrode area, as well as all the resonant modes and the mode shapes are analyzed. A design procedure is presented by using a prediction software tool. An experimental prototype is built and the measured results are compared to the numerical ones.