A phenomenological treatment of domain walls based on the Ginzburg-Landau-Devonshire theory is developed for uniaxial trigonal ferroelectrics, lithium niobate and lithium tantalate. The contributions to the domain-wall energy from polarization and strain as a function of orientation are considered. Analytical expressions are developed that are analyzed numerically to determine the minimum polarization, strain, and energy configurations of domain walls. It is found that hexagonal $y$ walls are preferred over $x$ walls in both materials. This agrees well with experimental observation of domain geometries in stoichiometric composition crystals.

https://arxiv.org/pdf/cond-mat/0503312.pdf

Phenomenological theory of a single domain wall in uniaxial trigonal ferroelectrics: Lithium niobate and lithium tantalate

This paper describes application of Sc-doped AlN (ScAlN) to wideband SAW devices in the 1 to 3 GHz range. First, it is shown theoretically that large SAW velocity and electromechanical coupling factor are simultaneously achievable when the ScAlN film is combined with a base substrate with extremely high acoustic wave velocities, such as diamond and SiC. Next, SAW delay lines are fabricated on the ScAlN/6H-SiC structure, and reasonable agreement between the theory and experiment is obtained. Finally, one-port SAW resonators are fabricated on the structure, and it is shown that high-performance is achievable in the 1 to 3 GHz range by use of the structure.

High-performance surface acoustic wave resonators in the 1 to 3 GHz range using a ScAlN/6H-SiC structure

A line-focus-beam ultrasonic material characterization (LFB-UMC) system has been developed to evaluate large diameter crystals and wafers currently used in electronic devices. The system enables highly accurate detection of slight changes in the physical and chemical properties in and among specimens. Material characterization proceeds by measuring the propagation characteristics, viz., phase velocity and attenuation, of Rayleigh-type leaky surface acoustic waves (LSAWs) excited on the water-loaded specimen surface. The measurement accuracy depends mainly upon the translation accuracy of the mechanical stages used in the system and the stability of the temperature environment. New precision mechanical translation stages have been developed, and the mechanical system, including the ultrasonic device and the specimen, has been installed in a temperature-controlled chamber to reduce thermal convection and conduction at the specimen. A method for precisely measuring temperature and longitudinal velocity in the water couplant has been developed, and a measurement procedure for precisely measuring the LSAW velocities has been completed, achieving greater relative accuracy to better than /spl plusmn/0.002% at any single chosen point and /spl plusmn/0.004% for two-dimensional measurements over a scanning area of a 200-mm diameter silicon single-crystal substrate. The system was developed to address various problems arising in science and industry associated with the development of materials and device fabrication processes.

Development of the line-focus-beam ultrasonic material characterization system

Polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), a piezoelectric material, has many useful applications, for example, as sensors, transducers, and surface acoustic wave (SAW) devices. Models of performance of these devices would be useful engineering tools. However, the benefit of the model is only as accurate as the material properties used in the model. The purpose of this investigation is to measure the elastic, dielectric and piezoelectric properties over a frequency range, including the imaginary part (loss) of these properties. Measurements are difficult because poled material is available as thin films, and not all quantities can be measured in that form. All components of the elastic stiffness, dielectric tensor, and electromechanical coupling tensor are needed in the models. The material studied here is uniaxially oriented poled PVDF that has orthorhombic mm2 symmetry. Presented are the frequency dependence of all nine complex elastic constants, three complex dielectric constants, and five complex piezoelectric constants. The PVDF was produced at Raytheon Research Division, Lexington, MA. Measurements were made on thin films and on stacked, cubical samples. The elastic constants c/sub 44//sup D/ and c/sub 55//sup D/, the dielectric constants e/sub 11//sup T/ and e/sub 22//sup T/, as well as the piezoelectric constants g/sub 15/ and g/sub 24/ reported here have not been published before. The values were determined by ultrasonic measurements using an impedance analyzer and a least square data-fitting technique.

Characterization of all the elastic, dielectric, and piezoelectric constants of uniaxially oriented poled PVDF films

The propagation properties of leaky surface acoustic waves (LSAWs) and longitudinal-type LSAWs (LLSAWs) on a LiNbO3 (LN) or LiTaO3 (LT) thin plate bonded to an AT-cut quartz or c-plane sapphire (c-Al2O3) substrate with a high phase velocity were investigated. It was theoretically revealed that when the LN or LT thin-plate thickness is less than one wavelength, the particle displacement of LLSAWs was concentrated in the thin plate and the electromechanical coupling factor (K 2) was increased to two to three times that in the single substrate. Furthermore, for 36° Y-cut X-propagating LT/c-Al2O3 with an LT thin-plate thickness of 0.35 λ and X-cut 36° Y-propagating LN/c-Al2O3 with an LN thin-plate thickness of 0.19 λ, the values of K 2 for an LSAW and an LLSAW were experimentally found to increase from 5.6 and 10.4% in the single substrate to 11.5 and 19.7% in the thin-plate bonded structure, respectively.

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.7567/JJAP.56.07JD13/pdf

High-coupling leaky surface acoustic waves on LiNbO3 or LiTaO3 thin plate bonded to high-velocity substrate

The acoustical physical constants (elastic constant, piezoelectric constant, dielectric constant, and density) of commercial surface acoustic wave (SAW)-grade LiNbO/sub 3/ and LiTaO/sub 3/ single crystals were determined by measuring the bulk acoustic wave velocities, dielectric constants, and densities of many plate specimens prepared from the ingots. The maximum probable error in each constant was examined by considering the dependence of each constant on the measured acoustic velocities. By comparing the measured values of longitudinal velocities that were not used to determine the constants with the calculated values using the previously mentioned constants, we found that the differences between the measured and calculated values were 1 m/s or less for both LiNbO/sub 3/ and LiTaO/sub 3/ crystals. These results suggest that the acoustical physical constants determined in this paper can give the values of bulk acoustic wave velocities with four significant digits.

I. Takanaga

Papers

Accurate measurements of the acoustical physical constants of LiNbO/sub 3/ and LiTaO/sub 3/ single crystals