A surface acoustic resonator with template-patterned interdigitated fingers

• Functional surface acoustic wave resonators fabricated using advective-molded self-concentrated silver nanoparticle ink.
• Conductive silver features as small as 500 nm.
• Corner frequencies ranging from 2.1 to 2.4 GHz.
• Maximum quality factor of 13.
• Fabrication process is low-complexity and low cost, and requires no lithography or vacuum processing.

Printed electronics techniques show promise as high-throughput, low-cost methods for fabricating micro-scale device features. In this work, we demonstrate a SAW resonator fabricated through a printing process. Silver nanoparticle ink is introduced to a vapor-permeable template that is patterned with the desired SAW resonator metallization. After the solvent in the ink evaporates, the nanoparticles within the patterned template tightly pack to form the device metallization. Interdigitated resonator electrodes with widths and spacing ranging from 500 nm to 1 μm were patterned on lithium niobate, corresponding to center frequencies of 2.1–2.4 GHz. The maximum quality factor was 13. Limitations and potential process improvements are discussed to improve resonator quality factor in future work.