A review of optimization algorithms for the design of the SAW transducers

The design of a surface acoustic wave (SAW) interdigital transducer (IDT) is not an optimization problem, but converting it to an optimization problem provides great flexibility with respect to determining the necessary compromise between customer specifications and possible device performance. Different approaches leading to optimization problems, e.g. the Remez exchange algorithm, the simplex algorithm, and the Davidon Fletcher Powell (DFP) algorithm, for which algorithms are available in almost every mathematical program library, are outlined. These algorithms are compared with respect to the performance of the resulting SAW filters, the implementation, and problems in application. The design of linear and nonlinear phase SAW filters is also discussed.<>