Thermal Conductivity of Aluminum Scandium Nitride for 5G Mobile Applications and beyond

Radio frequency (RF) microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) based on Al1-xScxN are replacing AlN-based devices because of their higher achievable bandwidths, suitable for the fifth-generation (5G) mobile network. However, overheating of Al1-xScxN film bulk acoustic resonators (FBARs) used in RF MEMS filters limits power handling and thus the phone's ability to operate in an increasingly congested RF environment while maintaining its maximum data transmission rate. In this work, the ramifications of tailoring of the piezoelectric response and microstructure of Al1-xScxN films on the thermal transport have been studied. The thermal conductivity of Al1-xScxN films (3-8 W m-1 K-1) grown by reactive sputter deposition was found to be orders of magnitude lower than that for c-axis-textured AlN films due to alloying effects. The film thickness dependence of the thermal conductivity suggests that higher frequency FBAR structures may suffer from limited power handling due to exacerbated overheating concerns. The reduction of the abnormally oriented grain (AOG) density was found to have a modest effect on the measured thermal conductivity. However, the use of low AOG density films resulted in lower insertion loss and thus less power dissipated within the resonator, which will lead to an overall enhancement of the device thermal performance.

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Work Title Thermal Conductivity of Aluminum Scandium Nitride for 5G Mobile Applications and beyond
Access
Open Access
Creators
  1. Yiwen Song
  2. Carlos Perez
  3. Giovanni Esteves
  4. James Spencer Lundh
  5. Christopher B. Saltonstall
  6. Thomas E. Beechem
  7. Jung In Yang
  8. Kevin Ferri
  9. Joseph E. Brown
  10. Zichen Tang
  11. Jon Paul Maria
  12. David W. Snyder
  13. Roy H. Olsson
  14. Benjamin A. Griffin
  15. Susan E. Trolier-Mckinstry
  16. Brian M. Foley
  17. Sukwon Choi
License In Copyright (Rights Reserved)
Work Type Article
Publisher
  1. ACS applied materials & interfaces
Publication Date April 28, 2021
Publisher Identifier (DOI)
  1. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.1c02912
Deposited December 08, 2021

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Version 1
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  • Created
  • Added Thermal_Conductivity_of_Aluminum_Scandium_Nitride_for_5G_Mobile_Applications_and_Beyond.pdf
  • Added Creator Yiwen Song
  • Added Creator Carlos Perez
  • Added Creator Giovanni Esteves
  • Added Creator James Spencer Lundh
  • Added Creator Christopher B. Saltonstall
  • Added Creator Thomas E. Beechem
  • Added Creator Jung In Yang
  • Added Creator Kevin Ferri
  • Added Creator Joseph E. Brown
  • Added Creator Zichen Tang
  • Added Creator Jon Paul Maria
  • Added Creator David W. Snyder
  • Added Creator Roy H. Olsson
  • Added Creator Benjamin A. Griffin
  • Added Creator Susan E. Trolier-Mckinstry
  • Added Creator Brian M. Foley
  • Added Creator Sukwon Choi
  • Published
  • Updated
  • Updated
  • Updated