Generalised Butterworth-Van Dyke

equivalent circuit for thin-lm bulk acoustic

resonator
H. Jin, S.R. Dong, J.K. Luo and W.I. Milne
A generalised Butterworth-Van Dyke (GBVD) equivalent circuit
model for a thin-lm bulk acoustic resonator (FBAR), especially for
a FBAR with a high electromechanical coupling constant (k
t
2
), is pre-
sented. The derivation starts from the ideal impedance formula for the
FBAR, then acoustic loss, dielectric loss, and electrode electrical loss
are introduced step by step. Results show that the widely used modied
Butterworth-Van Dyke (MBVD) model is a special case of a GBVD
model using a low k
t
2
approximation.
Introduction: The thin-lm bulk acoustic resonator (FBAR) has
attracted great attention in recent years owing to its successful appli-
cations in wireless communications and biosensors [1, 2]. An FBAR
consists of a piezoelectric thin lm sandwiched between two electrodes,
and is always represented by a Butterworth-Van Dyke (BVD) equivalent
circuit model. In 1999, Ruby et al. [3] proposed a modied Butterworth-
Van Dyke (MBVD) model to improve the tting accuracy between the
measured results and the BVD model. Since then, the MBVD model has
been widely used to describe the transmission characteristics of FBARs
without further modication [4]. Recently, high electromechanical
coupling constant (k
t
2
) FBARs have been developed and found to be
very promising for application in ultra-wideband lters [5]. However,
it was found that the MBVD model cannot t the actual frequency
characteristics accurately. This Letter re-examines the analytical
approach of the BVD and MBVD models, and proposes a generalised
Butterworth-Van Dyke (GBVD) model for FBARs by introducing
acoustic loss dielectric loss and electrode electrical loss effects.
Theoretical analysis: Case I (ideal FBAR): The BVD model was
derived from the ideal electrical impedance formula of a FBAR,
which is given by
Z =
1
jvC
0
1 k
2
t

tan u
u
_ _
(1)
where Z is the electrical impedance of an FBAR, v the angular fre-
quency, C
0
the static capacitance, k
2
t
the electromechanical coupling
constant, u = kh = (v/v
a
)h the phase shift of the acoustic wave, h
and v
a
half the thickness of the piezoelectric thin lm and the velocity
of the acoustic wave, respectively, and k the acoustic wave vector.
Mathematically tan x can be approximated to be 2x/(x
2
n
x
2
) near the
nth pole, where x
n
= (2n 1)p/2. Hence, near the nth parallel resonant
frequency, (1) can be written as
Z =
1
jvC
0
1 k
2
t

2
x
2
n
u
2
_ _
=
1
jvC
0

x
2
n
2k
2
t
x
2
n

1 u
2
/(x
2
n
2k
2
t
)
1 u
2
/x
2
n
(2)
Assuming that the corresponding equivalent circuit for (2) can be rep-
resented by a motional capacitor C
m
, in series with a motional inductor
L
m
, and together in parallel with a static capacitor C
0
, then the electrical
impedance can be expressed as:
Z =
1
jvC
0
+1/(1/jvC
m
+jvL
m
)
=
1
jv(C
0
+C
m
)

1 v
2
L
m
C
m
1 v
2
L
m
C
m
C
0
/(C
m
+C
0
)
(3)
Comparing (2) with (3), we obtain:
C
m
= 2k
2
t
C
0
/(x
2
n
2k
2
t
) (4)
L
m
= h
2
/(2v
2
a
k
2
t
C
0
) (5)
where C
0
is expressed as
C
0
= 1
S
zz
A/(2h) (6)
where 1
S
zz
is the dielectric constant and A the area of the effective
electrode.
Case II (effect of acoustic loss): The effect of the acoustic loss on the
FBARs characteristics can be taken into consideration by replacing the
stiffness coefcient c
E
33
with an effective stiffness coefcient
c
E
33
= c
E
33
+jvh
E
33
, where c
E
33
and h
E
33
are the stiffness and viscosity
coefcient at constant electrical eld E, respectively. Since
v
a
=
..................
(c
E
33
+e
2
z3
/1
S
zz
)/r
_
, k
2
t
= e
2
z3
/(c
E
33
1
S
zz
+e
2
z3
), where e
z3
and r are
the piezoelectric stress constant and density, respectively, we have v

a
and k
2
t
as
v

a
= v
a

............................
1 +jvh
E
33
/(c
E
33
+e
2
z3
/1
S
zz
)
_
(7)
k
2
t
= k
2
t
/(1 +jvh
E
33
/(c
E
33
+e
2
z3
/1
S
zz
)) (8)
Replacing v
a
and k
2
t
in (4)(6) with v

a
and k
2
t
, we obtain C

0
= C
0
,
L

m
= L
m
, and
C

m
= 2k
2
t
C
0
/(x
2
n
+jvh
E
33
x
2
n
/(c
E
33
+e
2
z3
/1
S
zz
) 2k
2
t
) (9)
With some mathematical operation, 1/jvC

m
can be expressed as
1/(jvC

m
) = 1/(jvC
m
) +R
m
(10)
where
R
m
= h
E
33
x
2
n
/(2k
2
t
C
0
(c
E
33
+e
2
z3
/1
S
zz
)) (11)
This means that the acoustic loss can be represented simply by consider-
ing a series resistor R
m
to the motional capacitor C
m
in the original
model. The corresponding equivalent circuit is the traditional BVD
model, as shown in Fig. 1a.
introducing dielectric loss
low k
2
t
approximation
L
m
L
m
R
m
R
m
a b
d c
C
m
C
0
C
0
g
0
C
x
C
y
g
y
g
y
L
m
R
m
C
x
C
m
R
s
R
s
C
0
R
0
L
m
R
m
C
y
C
0
g
0
introducing
electrode electrical loss
Fig. 1 Equivalent circuit models for thin-lm bulk acoustic resonator
a BVD model
b Circuit including dielectric loss
c GBVD model
d MBVD model
Case III (effect of acoustic loss and dielectric loss): The dielectric loss
effect on the characteristics of a FBAR can be considered using a
complex dielectric constant 1
S

zz
= 1
S
zz
(1 j tan d) = 1
S
zz
(1 js/(v1
S
zz
)),
where tan d is the loss tangent and s the conductivity. Replacing 1
S
zz
and c
E
33
with 1
S

zz
and c
E

33
, v
a
and k
2
t
become:
v

a
= v
a

.................................
1 +
jvh
E
33
c
E
33
+e
2
z3
/1
S
zz
+
jk
2
t
tan d
1 j tan d
_
(12)
k
2

t
=
k
2
t
1 j tan d

1
1 +jvh
E
33
/(c
E
33
+e
2
z3
/1
S
zz
) +jk
2
t
tan d/(1 j tan d)
(13)
Replacing v
a
, k
2
t
and 1
S
zz
in (4)(6) with v

a
, k
2

t
and 1
S

zz
, we obtain
C

0
= C
0
(1 j tan d) (14)
C

m
=
2k
2
t
C
0
(1 j tan d)
x
2
n
(1 j tan d)
_
1 +jvh
E
33
/(c
E
33
+e
2
z3
/1
S
zz
)
+ jk
2
t
tan d/(1 j tan d)
_
2k
2
t
(15)
L

m
= L
m
(16)
ELECTRONICS LETTERS 31st March 2011 Vol. 47 No. 7
Equation (14) can be represented by a resistor, the conductance of which
is g
0
= C
0
s/1
S
zz
, in parallel with the static capacitor C
0
. This replace-
ment is illustrated by the dashed box in Figs. 1a and b. The difference
between 1/jvC

m
and 1/jvC
m
is:
D =
1
jvC

1
jvC
m
= R
m
+
1
jvC
0

s/1
S
zz
jv +s/1
S
zz
1
x
2
n
2
_ _
(17)
where R
m
is as in (11). The second term of (17) accounts for the dielec-
tric loss. Assuming this addition will change the topology of the
motional capacitor C
m
from the dashed box in Fig. 1a to the
dashed box in Fig. 1b. Let C
x
= C
m
/a, then
D = R
m
+
jv((a 1)C
y
+C
m
) +(a 1)g
y
jvC
m
(jvC
y
+g
y
)
(18)
Comparing (17) with (18), we have a = (x
2
n
k
2
t
x
2
n
)/x
2
n
2k
2
t
,
C
x
= C
m
/a, C
y
= C
m
/(1 a) and g
y
= sC
y
/1
S
zz
. The partition of C
x
and C
y
is determined by k
2
t
. For example, when k
2
t
= 0.06 for the
case of AlN [3], a is 0.988, close to unity, while a is equal to 0.875
for LiNbO
3
with k
2
t
= 0.43 [5], substantially smaller than one, and C
x
and C
y
are signicantly different from C
m
.
20
30
40
50
60
70
150 225 300
frequency, MHz
a
d
m
i
t
t
a
n
c
e
,

d
B
375
data from [5]
MBVD
GBVD
450
Fig. 2 Comparison of modelling results by MBVD and GBVD models with
measured results from [5]
Case IV (effect of acoustic loss, dielectric loss and electrode electrical
loss): As proposed by Ruby et al. [3], the electrical loss of the electrode
can be considered by adding a series resistor R
s
to the total equivalent
circuit. The nal GBVD model with incorporation of acoustic loss,
dielectric loss and electrode electrical loss is shown in Fig. 1c. Near
the resonant frequency, the parallel elements C
0
and g
0
shown in
Fig. 1c can be converted to the series elements C
0
and R
0
as shown
in Fig. 1d. Furthermore if k
2
t
is small, the dominant C
x
of the
complex structure in the dashed box can be reduced to C
m
. This is
the MBVD model proposed by Ruby et al. [3], indicating that the
MBVD model is the case of the GBVD model with low k
2
t
. When a
high k
2
t
is used, the GBVD model should be much more accurate in
modelling the electrical impedance of an FBAR.
To compare the MBVD and GBVD models with high k
2
t
, we have
simulated the impedances using the above two models and the measured
data from [5] with results shown in Fig. 2. Agilent Advanced Design
System (ADS) software was used to extract electrical parameters of
the MBVD and GBVD models from the measured data. It is clear that
GBVD provides a much better t to the measured results than that
obtained using the MBVD, demonstrating the high suitability of the
GBVD model for FBARs with high k
2
t
piezoelectric materials.
Conclusions: A generalised Butterworth-Van Dyke (GBVD) equivalent
circuit model for thin-lm bulk acoustic resonators is proposed. The
GBVD model includes acoustic loss, dielectric loss and electrode elec-
trical loss. Results show that the traditional widely used MBVD and
BVD models are, in fact, special cases of the GBVD model, and the
MBVD model is the low electromechanical coupling constant (k
2
t
)
approximation to the GBVD model. Therefore, the GBVD model has
promising applications in ultra-wideband lters implemented by high
k
2
t
FBARs.
Acknowledgments: This work was supported by the National Natural
Science Foundation Key Program of China (No. 60936002), the
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EP/F06294X/
1) and The Royal Society International Joint Project with China
(JP090873).
# The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2011
8 February 2011
doi: 10.1049/el.2011.0343
One or more of the Figures in this Letter are available in colour online.
H. Jin and S.R. Dong (Department of Information Science & Electronic
Engineering, Zhejiang University, 38 Zheda Road, Hangzhou 310027,
Peoples Republic of China)
E-mail: 0403bc@gmail.com
J.K. Luo (Institute of Material Research & Innovation, University of
Bolton, Deane Road, Bolton BL3 5AB, United Kingdom)
W.I. Milne (Electrical Engineering Division, University of Cambridge,
Cambridge CB3 0FA, United Kingdom)
W.I. Milne: also with Kyung Hee University, Department of Information
Science Display, Seoul 130701, Republic of Korea
J.K. Luo: also with Department of Information Science & Electronic
Engineering, Zhejiang University, 38 Zheda Road, Hangzhou 310027,
Peoples Republic of China
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