AlN/Pt/LN-Y128 Packageless Acoustic Wave Temperature Sensor

Batteryless, wireless, and packageless acoustic wave sensors are particularly desirable for harsh high-temperature environments. In this letter, an acoustic wave sensor based on a lithium niobate (Y + 128° cut, abbreviated LN-Y128) substrate with a buried platinum interdigital transducer (IDT) in an aluminum nitride (AlN) overlayer is investigated. Previously, it was demonstrated theoretically that due to the specific properties of LN-Y128, Rayleigh-type guided waves can propagate at the AlN/IDT(Pt)/LN-Y128 interface. Here, this structure is, for the first time, studied experimentally, including the growth and properties of the AlN layer onto irregular platinum IDTs. Both Shear Horizontal and Rayleigh-type waves have been identified after the AlN deposition and the velocities are consistent with the fitted SDA-FEM-SDA (a combination of finite element modeling with spectral domain analysis) simulations. Electrical measurements with a surface perturbation and temperature measurements show that the AlN/IDT(Pt)/LN-Y128 bilayer structure is promising as a packageless high-temperature sensor.