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Updated: Jul 7, 2026

Fabrication and Characterization of Thickness Mode Piezoelectric Devices for Atomization and Acoustofluidics
Published on: August 5, 2020
Thin-film characterization using a scanning laser acoustic microscope with surface acoustic waves
W P Robbins1, R K Mueller, E Rudd
1Dept. of Electr. Eng., Minnesota Univ., Minneapolis, MN.
Abstract:
The use of surface acoustic waves in a scanning laser acoustic microscope for the characterization of the mechanical or acoustic properties of thin films deposited on piezoelectric substrates is demonstrated. Quantitative measurements of mass loading effects of 5000-A-thick tungsten films deposited on lithium niobate substrates were obtained using 100-MHz surface acoustic waves. No information about the tungsten film could be obtained using 100-MHz compressional waves. Methods of generating surface waves on nonpiezoelectric materials so that this technique could be used on arbitrary substrates are discussed.
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