Wave propagation in piezoelectric layered structures of film bulk acoustic resonators

• Dispersion curves in a piezoelectric layered structure of FBARs are obtained.
• Cut-off frequencies and vibration distributions of selected modes are given.
• The effect of mass ratio of electrode to film on wave dispersion is examined.
• Results are useful to develop effective 2D plate equations for FBAR analysis.

In this paper, we studied the wave propagation in a piezoelectric layered plate consisting of a piezoelectric thin film on an electroded elastic substrate with or without a driving electrode. Both plane-strain and anti-plane waves were taken into account for the sake of completeness. Numerical results on dispersion relations, cut-off frequencies and vibration distributions of selected modes were given. The effects of mass ratio of driving electrode layer to film layer on the dispersion curve patterns and cut-off frequencies of the plane-strain waves were discussed in detail. Results show that the mass ratio does not change the trend of dispersion curves but larger mass ratio lowers corresponding frequency at a fixed wave number and may extend the frequency range for energy trapping. Those results are of fundamental importance and can be used as a reference to develop effective two-dimensional plate equations for structural analysis and design of film bulk acoustic resonators.