A review of the properties of ferroelectric materials that are relevant to microwave tunable devices is presented: we discuss the theory of dielectric response of tunable bulk materials and thin films; the experimental results from the literature and from own work are reviewed; the correspondence between the theoretical results and the measured properties of tunable materials is critically analyzed; nominally pure, real (defected), and composite bulk materials and thin films are addressed. In addition, techniques for characterization of tunable ferroelectrics and applications of these materials are briefly presented.

Ferroelectric materials for microwave tunable applications

Small, light weight and multifunctional electronic components are attracting much attention because of the rapid growth of the wireless communication systems and microwave products in the consumer electronic market. The component manufacturers are thus forced to search for new advanced integration, packaging and interconnection technologies. One solution is the low temperature cofired ceramic (LTCC) technology enabling fabrication of three-dimensional ceramic modules with low dielectric loss and embedded silver electrodes. During the past 15 years, a large number of new dielectric LTCCs for high frequency applications have been developed. About 1000 papers were published and ∼500 patents were filed in the area of LTCC and related technologies. However, the data of these several very useful materials are scattered. The main purpose of this review is to bring the data and science of these materials together, which will be of immense help to researchers and technologists all over the world. The comme...

Low loss dielectric materials for LTCC applications: a review

Localized fluid flow measurements with an He-Ne laser spectrometer

https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/bitstream/1810/264501/1/Fu_et_al-2017-Progress_in_Material_Science-VoR.pdf

Advances in piezoelectric thin films for acoustic biosensors, acoustofluidics and lab-on-chip applications

The influence of film thickness on the material properties of aluminum nitride (AlN) thin films deposited on Pt(111) electrodes has been investigated experimentally by means of x-ray diffraction, dielectric response, atomic force microscopy, interferometry measurement of effective d33, and residual stress measurement. The thickness was varied between 35 nm and 2 μm. Full width at mid-height of the rocking curve decreased from 2.60 to 1.14°, rms roughness increased from 3.8 to 18.6 A, the effective d33, namely d33,f, from 2.75 to 5.15 pm/V. The permittivity eAlN was stable at 10.2, whereas the dielectric losses decreased from 1% to 0.1%. The breakdown electric field under dc voltages varied between 4.0 and 5.5 MV/cm.

Thickness dependence of the properties of highly c-axis textured AlN thin films

A method using spherical wave expansion theory to reconstruct acoustic pressure field from a vibrating object is developed. The radiated acoustic pressures are obtained by means of an expansion of independent functions generated by the Gram–Schmidt orthonormalization with respect to the particular solutions to the Helmholtz equation on the vibrating surface under consideration. The coefficients associated with these independent functions are determined by requiring the assumed form of solution to satisfy the pressure boundary condition at the measurement points. The errors incurred in this process are minimized by the least-squares method. Once these coefficients are specified, the acoustic pressure at any point, including the source surface, is completely determined. In this paper, this method is used to reconstruct the surface acoustic pressures based on the measured acoustic pressure signals in the field. It is shown that this method can be applied to both separable and nonseparable geometries, and the...

Helmholtz equation-least-squares method for reconstructing the acoustic pressure field

This paper presents analyses and implementation of the reconstruction of acoustic pressure fields radiated from a general, three-dimensional complex vibrating structure using the Helmholtz equation least-squares (HELS) method. The structure under consideration emulates a full-size four-cylinder engine. To simulate sound radiation from a vibrating structure, harmonic excitations are assumed to act on arbitrarily selected surfaces. The resulting vibration responses are solved by the commercial FEM (finite element method) software I-DEAS. Once the normal component of the surface velocity distribution is determined, the surface acoustic pressures are calculated using standard boundary element method (BEM) codes. The radiated acoustic pressures over several planar surfaces at certain distances from the source are calculated by the Helmholtz integral formulation. These field pressures are taken as the input to the HELS formulation to reconstruct acoustic pressures on the entire source surface, as well as in the field. The reconstructed acoustic pressures thus obtained are then compared with benchmark values. Numerical results demonstrate that good agreements can be obtained with relatively few expansion functions. The HELS method is shown to be very effective in the low-to-mid frequency regime, and can potentially become a powerful noise diagnostic tool.

On reconstruction of acoustic pressure fields using the Helmholtz equation least squares method

http://nfudee.nfu.edu.tw/ezfiles/43/1043/img/341/A38=Synthesis,formationandcharacterizationofZnTiO3ceramics.pdf

Synthesis, formation and characterization of ZnTiO3 ceramics

This paper presents an overview of the acoustic imaging methods developed over the past three decades that enable one to reconstruct all acoustic quantities based on the acoustic pressure measurements taken around a target source at close distances. One such method that has received the most attention is known as near-field acoustical holography (NAH). The original NAH relies on Fourier transforms that are suitable for a surface containing a level of constant coordinate in a source-free region. Other methods are developed to reconstruct the acoustic quantities in three-dimensional space and on an arbitrary three-dimensional source surface. Note that there is a fine difference between Fourier transform based NAH and other methods that is largely overlooked. The former can offer a wave number spectrum, thus enabling visualization of various structural waves of different wavelengths that travel on the surface of a structure; the latter cannot provide such information, which is critical to acquire an in-depth understanding of the interrelationships between structural vibrations and sound radiation. All these methods are discussed in this paper, their advantages and limitations are compared, and the need for further development to analyze the root causes of noise and vibration problems is discussed.

Methods for reconstructing acoustic quantities based on acoustic pressure measurements

This paper extends the Helmholtz equation least-squares (HELS) method previously developed by Wang and Wu [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 102, 2020–2032 (1997)] to reconstruction of acoustic pressure fields inside the cavity of a vibrating object. The acoustic pressures are reconstructed through an expansion of the acoustic modes generated by the Gram–Schmidt orthonormalization with respect to the particular solutions to the Helmholtz equation. Such an expansion is uniformly convergent because the selected acoustic modes consist of a uniformly convergent series of Legendre functions. The coefficients associated with these acoustic modes are determined by requiring the assumed-form solution to satisfy the pressure boundary condition at the measurement points. The errors incurred in this process are minimized by the least-squares method. Numerical examples of partially vibrating spheres and cylinders with various half-length to radius aspect ratios subject to different frequency excitations are demonstrated. The reconstructed acoustic pressures are compared with the analytic solutions and numerical ones obtained by using the standard boundary element method (BEM) codes.

Sean Wu

Papers

Helmholtz equation-least-squares method for reconstructing the acoustic pressure field

On reconstruction of acoustic pressure fields using the Helmholtz equation least squares method

Synthesis, formation and characterization of ZnTiO3 ceramics

Methods for reconstructing acoustic quantities based on acoustic pressure measurements

Reconstructing interior acoustic pressure fields via Helmholtz equation least-squares method