1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to boundary acoustic wave filters and multiplexers including the boundary acoustic wave filter, and, more particularly, to a boundary acoustic wave filter in which a boundary acoustic wave resonator is connected between an input terminal or an output terminal and a longitudinally coupled resonator-type elastic wave filter unit and a multiplexer including the boundary acoustic wave filter.
2. Description of the Related Art
An elastic wave filter is used as an RF or IF filter for mobile telephones, a VCO resonator, a VIF filter for TV sets, etc. The elastic wave filter is required to have a small insertion loss in a pass band and a high steepness of a filter characteristic on both sides of the pass band. Various techniques for reducing an insertion loss in a pass band and increasing the steepness of a filter characteristic on both sides of the pass band have been proposed.
For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2003-69385 discloses a surface acoustic wave filter (hereinafter also referred to as a “shunt trap”) capable of increasing the flatness of an insertion loss in a pass band. In the surface acoustic wave filter, a surface acoustic wave resonator having a resonance point in the pass band of a longitudinally coupled resonator-type elastic wave filter unit is connected between the ground potential and the connection point between the longitudinally coupled resonator-type elastic wave filter unit and an input terminal.
In the surface acoustic wave filter disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2003-69385, the shunt trap is disposed, and two surface acoustic wave resonators are connected in series between the input terminal and the longitudinally coupled resonator-type elastic wave filter unit. When two surface acoustic wave resonators are connected in series between an input terminal and a longitudinally coupled resonator-type elastic wave filter unit as disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2003-69385, it is possible to enhance an impedance matching and reduce an insertion loss in a pass band. Accordingly, from the viewpoint of reducing an insertion loss in a pass band, it is desirable that two surface acoustic wave resonators be connected in series between an input terminal and a longitudinally coupled resonator-type elastic wave filter unit.
However, in order to achieve an impedance matching when two surface acoustic wave resonators are connected in series between an input terminal and a longitudinally coupled resonator-type elastic wave filter unit, it is necessary to increase the number of pairs of electrode fingers in IDT electrodes included in the two surface acoustic wave resonators. Accordingly, this case requires an electrode area that is approximately four times the area required in a case where a single surface acoustic wave resonator is connected between an input terminal and a longitudinally coupled resonator-type elastic wave filter unit. This leads to the increase in the size of the elastic wave filter.
Preferred embodiments of the present invention provide a small boundary acoustic wave filter having a small insertion loss in a pass band.
A boundary acoustic wave filter according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention includes an input terminal, an output terminal, a longitudinally coupled resonator-type boundary acoustic wave filter unit connected between the input terminal and the output terminal, and a boundary acoustic wave resonator that is connected between the input terminal or the output terminal and the longitudinally coupled resonator-type boundary acoustic wave filter unit and includes a piezoelectric substrate, a first dielectric layer disposed on the piezoelectric substrate, and an IDT electrode that is disposed at a boundary between the piezoelectric substrate and the first dielectric layer and includes a pair of comb-shaped electrodes interdigitated with each other. The number of pairs of electrode fingers in the IDT electrode in the boundary acoustic wave resonator is preferably in a range of approximately 57.5 to approximately 77.5.
In the boundary acoustic wave filter, the boundary acoustic wave resonator preferably is connected between the input terminal and the longitudinally coupled resonator-type boundary acoustic wave filter unit.
In the boundary acoustic wave filter, the piezoelectric substrate preferably is a LiNbO3 substrate. As a result, a relatively large electromechanical coupling coefficient can be obtained. It is therefore possible to broaden a pass band.
In the boundary acoustic wave filter, the boundary acoustic wave resonator further includes a second dielectric layer disposed between the piezoelectric substrate and the IDT electrode. As a result, it is possible to improve a surge resistance of the boundary acoustic wave filter.
In the boundary acoustic wave filter, the number of the boundary acoustic wave resonators disposed between the input terminal or the output terminal and the longitudinally coupled resonator-type boundary acoustic wave filter unit preferably is one.
A multiplexer according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention includes a transmitter filter and a receiver filter. At least one of the transmitter filter and the receiver filter is the above-described boundary acoustic wave filter according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, since the number of pairs of electrode fingers in an IDT electrode in a boundary acoustic wave resonator preferably is in the range of approximately 57.5 to approximately 77.5, it is possible to reduce an insertion loss in a pass band with a single boundary acoustic wave resonator disposed between an input terminal or an output terminal and a boundary acoustic wave filter unit. Accordingly, according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, it is possible to provide a small boundary acoustic wave filter capable achieving a small insertion loss in a pass band and a multiplexer including the boundary acoustic wave filter.
The above and other features, elements, steps, characteristics and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of preferred embodiments of the present invention with reference to the attached drawings.
A preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described below with a duplexer 1 illustrated in
As illustrated in
A transmitter filter 13 is connected between the antenna terminal 10 and the transmission terminal 11. A transmission signal is input from the transmission terminal 11 and is output from the antenna terminal 10. That is, in this case, the transmission terminal 11 functions as an input terminal, and the antenna terminal 10 functions as an output terminal. The transmitter filter 13 preferably is a ladder filter including a series arm 13a arranged to connect the antenna terminal 10 and the transmission terminal 11 with each other and a plurality of parallel arms 13b connected between the series arm 13a and the ground potential. In the series arm 13a, a plurality of series-arm resonators S are connected in series. Each of the parallel arms 13b is provided with a parallel-arm resonator P.
A receiver filter 20 is connected between the antenna terminal 10 and each of the receiving terminals 12a and 12b. A receiving signal is input from the antenna terminal 10 and is output from the receiving terminals 12a and 12b. That is, in this case, the antenna terminal 10 functions as an input terminal and the receiving terminals 12a and 12b function as output terminals. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the receiver filter 20 preferably is a boundary acoustic wave filter. The receiver filter 20 includes a longitudinally coupled resonator-type boundary acoustic wave filter unit 21 connected between the antenna terminal 10 and each of the receiving terminals 12a and 12b. The boundary acoustic wave filter unit 21 includes a first filter unit 22 and a second filter unit 23.
The first filter unit 22 is connected between the antenna terminal 10 and the receiving terminal 12a, and includes a first IDT electrode 22a, a second IDT electrode 22b, and a third IDT electrode 22c. The IDT electrodes 22a to 22c are disposed along a boundary acoustic wave propagation direction. Although not illustrated in
The second filter unit 23 is connected between the antenna terminal 10 and the receiving terminal 12b, and includes a first IDT electrode 23a, a second IDT electrode 23b, and a third IDT electrode 23c. The IDT electrodes 23a to 23c are disposed along a boundary acoustic wave propagation direction. Although not illustrated in
A boundary acoustic wave resonator 24 that is a shunt trap is connected between the connection point between the second IDT electrode 23b and the receiving terminal 12b and the connection point between the second IDT electrode 22b and the receiving terminal 12a.
A boundary acoustic wave resonator 30 is disposed between the antenna terminal 10 and the boundary acoustic wave filter unit 21. In this specification, a boundary acoustic wave resonator connected between an input terminal or an output terminal and a boundary acoustic wave filter unit is also referred to as a “series trap.”
The resonant frequency of the series trap 30 is in the pass band of the receiver filter 20, and the anti-resonant frequency of the series trap 30 is in a stop band on the higher-frequency side of the pass band of the receiver filter 20. Accordingly, it is possible to improve the steepness of a filter characteristic with the series trap 30.
The boundary acoustic wave resonator 30 includes an IDT electrode 31. The IDT electrode 31 includes a pair of comb-shaped electrodes 31a and 31b that are weighted and are interdigitated with each other as illustrated in
Next, the layer structure of the duplexer 1 according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to
On the piezoelectric substrate 15, a first dielectric layer 16 and a second dielectric layer 17 are formed in this order. The first dielectric layer 16 has an acoustic velocity lower than that of the second dielectric layer 17. The material of each of the first dielectric layer 16 and the second dielectric layer 17 may be any material. For example, the first dielectric layer 16 can be made of silicon oxide such as SiO2, and the second dielectric layer 17 can be made of silicon nitride such as SiN. The thickness of each of the first dielectric layer 16 and the second dielectric layer 17 may be any thickness with which a boundary acoustic wave preferably is excited. For example, the thickness of the first dielectric layer 16 preferably is in a range of approximately 500 nm to approximately 2000 nm, and the thickness of the second dielectric layer 17 preferably is in a range of approximately 1000 nm to approximately 4000 nm.
An electrode 19 is disposed at the boundary between the piezoelectric substrate 15 and the first dielectric layer 16. The electrode 19 defines the above-described IDT electrodes including the IDT electrode 31 and the above-described grating reflectors. The material of the electrode 19 may be any conductive material. The electrode 19 is made of, for example, metal or an alloy. The electrode 19 may include a single conductive layer or the laminate of a plurality of conductive layers. More specifically, in a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the electrode 19 includes adhesive layers 19a, 19c, 19e, and 19g which are made of Ti, a first conductive layer 19b and a third conductive layer 19f which are made of Pt, and a second conductive layer 19d made of AlCu. The thickness of each of the layers 19a to 19g may be any thickness. For example, the thicknesses of the adhesive layers 19a, 19c, 19e, and 19g preferably are in the range of approximately 5 nm to approximately 50 nm, the thicknesses of the first conductive layer 19b and the third conductive layer 19f are preferably in the range of approximately 5 nm to approximately 150 nm, and the thickness of the second conductive layer 19d is preferably in the range of approximately 50 nm to approximately 700 nm.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, in order to improve a surge resistance, a dielectric layer 18 is disposed between the electrode 19 and the piezoelectric substrate 15. The dielectric layer 18 may be made of any dielectric, for example, Ta2O5. The thickness of the dielectric layer 18 may be any thickness, and preferably is, for example, in the range of approximately 5 nm to approximately 60 nm.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the number of pairs of electrode fingers in the IDT electrode 31 in the boundary acoustic wave resonator 30 preferably is in the range of approximately 57.5 to approximately 77.5. Accordingly, it is possible to reduce an insertion loss in a pass band with a single boundary acoustic wave resonator, that is, the boundary acoustic wave resonator 30. Both the size reduction and the reduction in an insertion loss in a pass band can therefore be achieved. The reason for this will be described in detail below.
As illustrated in
As illustrated in
In order to reduce an insertion loss in a pass band, it is therefore necessary to reduce the resonant resistance of a series trap and increase the anti-resonant resistance of the series trap. That is, it is necessary to increase an impedance ratio obtained by dividing an anti-resonant resistance by a resonant resistance.
A resonant resistance and an anti-resonant resistance are significantly affected by the cross width of the IDT electrode 31 and the number of pairs of electrode fingers in the IDT electrode 31. The cross width of the IDT electrode 31 and the number of pairs of electrode fingers in the IDT electrode 31 are also factors in determining the impedance of the series trap 30. More specifically, the impedance of the series trap 30 is the product of the cross width of the IDT electrode 31 and the number of pairs of electrode fingers in the IDT electrode 31. Since an impedance required for the series trap 30 is a constant impedance, the product of the cross width of the IDT electrode 31 and the number of pairs of electrode fingers in the IDT electrode 31 is determined by a required impedance. Accordingly, when one of the cross width of the IDT electrode 31 and the number of pairs of electrode fingers in the IDT electrode 31 is determined, the other one of the cross width of the IDT electrode 31 and the number of pairs of electrode fingers in the IDT electrode 31 can be determined with a required impedance. The inventors of the present invention calculated a range in which an optimal impedance ratio could be obtained by experiments under conditions where an obtained impedance was constant, the number of pairs of electrode fingers in the IDT electrode 31 was set as a parameter, and only a single series trap, the series trap 30, was disposed. A result of the experiments is illustrated in Table 1 and
It is discovered from an experimental result illustrated in Table 1 and
The stop band of an excited elastic wave is determined in accordance with a wavelength that is determined by an electrode finger pitch. Accordingly, it is considered that the desired range of the number of pairs of electrode fingers in IDT electrode 31 does not depend on the frequency of an elastic wave.
In order to check an effect obtained by setting the number of pairs of electrode fingers in the IDT electrode 31 to a value in the range of approximately 57.5 to approximately 77.5, the receiver filter 20 was produced in accordance with the following design parameter and the filter characteristic of the receiver filter 20 was measured. A result of the measurement is illustrated in
Referring to
As is apparent from
The series trap 30;
the number of pairs of electrode fingers: 67
cross width: 25λ (93 μm)
the number of electrode fingers: 135
the wavelength (λ) determined by an electrode finger pitch: 3.72 μm
duty: 0.47
no reflector
The boundary acoustic wave filter unit 21;
the wavelength (λ) in a reflector: 3.94 μm
the number of electrode fingers in the reflector: 23
the number of pairs of electrode fingers in the reflector: 11
the number of electrode fingers in the IDT electrodes 22a, 22c, 23a, and 23c: 53 (the number of electrode fingers in a narrow-pitch electrode finger portion adjacent to the IDT electrodes 22b and 23b: 8)
the wavelength (λ) in a portion other than the narrow-pitch electrode finger portion in the IDT electrodes 22a, 22c, 23a, and 23c: 3.91 μm
the wavelength (λ) in the narrow-pitch electrode finger portion in the IDT electrodes 22a, 22c, 23a, and 23c: 3.69 μm
the number of pairs of electrode fingers in the portion other than the narrow-pitch electrode finger portion in the IDT electrodes 22a, 22c, 23a, and 23c: 22
the number of pairs of electrode fingers in the narrow-pitch electrode finger portion in the IDT electrodes 22a, 22c, 23a, and 23c: 3.5
the number of electrode fingers in the IDT electrodes 22b and 23b: 35 (the number of electrode fingers in a narrow-pitch electrode finger portion adjacent to the IDT electrodes 22a, 22c, 23a, and 23c: 7)
the wavelength (λ) in a portion other than the narrow-pitch electrode finger portion in the IDT electrodes 22b and 23b: 3.83 μm
the wavelength (λ) in the narrow-pitch electrode finger portion in the IDT electrodes 22b and 23b: 3.65 μm
the number of pairs of electrode fingers in the portion other than the narrow-pitch electrode finger portion in the IDT electrodes 22b and 23b: 10
the number of pairs of electrode fingers in the narrow-pitch electrode finger portion in the IDT electrodes 22b and 23b: 3
duty: 0.47
propagation angle: 0°
The shunt trap 24;
cross width: 29.3λ (115 μm)
the wavelength (λ) in a reflector: 3.92 μm
the number of electrode fingers in the reflector: 21
the number of pairs of electrode fingers in the reflector: 10
the wavelength (λ) in an IDT electrode: 3.92 μm
the number of electrode fingers in the IDT electrode: 51
the number of pairs of electrode fingers in the IDT electrode: 25
duty: 0.47
The series trap 30;
the number of pairs of electrode fingers: 46
cross width: 33.6λ
Other design parameters are the same as those described above.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a duplexer is preferably used as a multiplexer. However, for example, a triplexer may be used as a multiplexer.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a 3-IDT-type longitudinally coupled resonator-type boundary acoustic wave filter unit is used. However, for example, a 5-IDT-type or 7-IDT-type longitudinally coupled resonator-type boundary acoustic wave filter unit may be used.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the boundary acoustic wave resonator 30 that is a series trap is preferably connected between the antenna terminal 10 that is an input terminal and the boundary acoustic wave filter unit 21. However, for example, a boundary acoustic wave resonator that is a series trap may be connected between an output terminal and a boundary acoustic wave filter unit.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a series trap has no reflector. However, the series trap may have a reflector.
While preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described above, it is to be understood that variations and modifications will be apparent to those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention. The scope of the present invention, therefore, is to be determined solely by the following claims.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
2009-213359 | Sep 2009 | JP | national |
2010-184522 | Aug 2010 | JP | national |