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Nanoelectromechanical resonators for gigahertz frequency control based on hafnia–zirconia–alumina superlattices

Nature Electronics volume 6, pages 599–609 (2023)Cite this article

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Abstract

Many electronic systems depend on microelectromechanical system and nanoelectromechanical system resonators for frequency control applications such as clock signal generation and wireless communication. Hundreds of resonators with frequencies from 32 kHz to 6 GHz can be heterogeneously integrated with complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor circuits. However, heterogeneous integration creates large overheads—such as system size and power consumption—limiting the potential for dynamic spectrum use and frequency extension to centimetre- and millimetre-wave regimes. Here we report switchable nanoelectromechanical system resonators with wide spectrum coverage, which are based on hafnia–zirconia–alumina (Hf0.5Zr0.5O2–Al2O3) superlattice transducers. The superlattice structure, together with pulsed-poling-induced ferroelastic reorientation, enables large linear electromechanical coupling and high quality factor in lateral- and thickness-oriented bulk acoustic wave modes. The monolithic nanoelectromechanical system resonators offer frequencies of 0.4–17.3 GHz, frequency–quality products up to 4.04 × 1012 Hz and electromechanical couplings of 2.5%. Using a d.c. bias voltage to depolarize the transducers, we also show that the resonators can be switched off to their electromechanical noise floor, creating an on/off isolation of 37 dB.

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Fig. 1: Superlattice Hf0.5Zr0.5O2–Al2O3 transducer structure and morphology.
Fig. 2: Evolution of piezoelectric and ferroelectric properties in superlattice Hf0.5Zr0.5O2–Al2O3 transducers over pulsed poling.
Fig. 3: Evolution of linear and quadratic piezoelectric constants in superlattice Hf0.5Zr0.5O2–Al2O3 transducer over pulsed poling.
Fig. 4: Superlattice Hf0.5Zr0.5O2–Al2O3 L-BAW resonator image and characterization.
Fig. 5: Superlattice Hf0.5Zr0.5O2–Al2O3 T-BAW resonator image and characterization.
Fig. 6: Intrinsic switchability in superlattice Hf0.5Zr0.5O2–Al2O3 NEMS resonators.

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The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the University of Florida Nanoscale Research Facility cleanroom staff for fabrication support and T. Hancock for supporting this project and helpful technical discussions. T.T., F.H. and R.T. acknowledge financial support from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) through the Young Faculty Award (grant D19AP00044) and National Science Foundation (NSF) through the CAREER award (grant ECCS-1752206). E.H. and H.K. acknowledge financial support from the University of Florida through the Research Opportunity Seed Fund (ROSF).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA

    Troy Tharpe, Faysal Hakim & Roozbeh Tabrizian

  2. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA

    Eitan Hershkovitz & Honggyu Kim

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Contributions

T.T. designed, fabricated and measured the NEMS resonators. T.T. and F.H. fabricated and characterized the superlattice transducer. E.H. performed the TEM characterization of the superlattice. H.K. and R.T. supervised the project and provided guidance throughout the process. All authors participated in analysing the results and contributed to writing the paper. All authors have given approval to the final version of the paper.

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Correspondence to Roozbeh Tabrizian.

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Nature Electronics thanks Ming-Huang Li, Mina Rais-Zadeh and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Tharpe, T., Hershkovitz, E., Hakim, F. et al. Nanoelectromechanical resonators for gigahertz frequency control based on hafnia–zirconia–alumina superlattices. Nat Electron 6, 599–609 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41928-023-00999-9

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