Buried tantalate-niobate microwave varactors

• We present characteristics of microwave variable capacitors (varactors) buried in 2.5 mu m thick AgTa0.5Nb0.5O3 (ATN) film pulsed laser deposited on sapphire single crystal. 2 gm gap interdigital capacitors (IDC) were fabricated by photolithographic, dry etching and lift-off processes. For comparison, similar IDCs were also defined on top of ATN film. Capacitance and loss tangent have been determined using a modified de-embedding technique in the microwave range 25 MHz - 40 GHz. Buried structures show higher values of capacitance and tunability, keeping the same level of losses compared to standard topped devices and resulting in an increased K-factor = tunability/tan delta. Experimental results are explained within equivalent circuit model. Besides the increased performance, the new design avoids the need of a successive planarization step, which could be required in an integration process.

Subject headings

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Elektroteknik och elektronik (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Electrical Engineering, Electronic Engineering, Information Engineering (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Silver-tantalate-niobate

voltage tunability

buried interdigital capacitors

Electrical engineering, electronics and photonics

Elektroteknik, elektronik och fotonik

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

kon (subject category)