Fabrication of high temperature surface acoustic wave devices for sensor applications

Surface acoustic devices have been shown to be suitable not only for signal processing but also for sensor applications. In this paper high temperature surface acoustic wave devices based on gallium orthophosphate have been fabricated, using a lift-off technique and tested for high frequency applications at temperatures up to 600 degrees C. The measured S-parameter (S-11) has been used to study the mass loading effect of the platinum electrodes and turnover temperature of GaPO4 with a 5 degrees cut. The analysis of these results shows that the mass loading effect can be used to predict the desired resonant frequency of the SAW devices. Also two different adhesion layers for Pt metallisation were studied. Our results show that Zirconium is a more suitable under layer than Titanium. (C) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.