BrainMap

Mr. Aurel-Sorin Lup

Dr. Eng.

Lecturer - UNIVERSITATEA NAȚIONALĂ DE ȘTIINȚĂ ȘI TEHNOLOGIE POLITEHNICA BUCUREȘTI

Researcher | Teaching staff

Curriculum Vitae (09/10/2019)

Expertise & keywords

Temperature sensor based on GHz operating AlN/Si SAW structures Call name: Joint Applied Research Projects - PCCA 2013 - call
PN-II-PT-PCCA-2013-4-0677 2014 - 2017

Role in this project:

Coordinating institution: INSTITUTUL NATIONAL DE CERCETARE- DEZVOLTARE PENTRU MICROTEHNOLOGIE - IMT BUCURESTI INCD

Project partners: INSTITUTUL NATIONAL DE CERCETARE- DEZVOLTARE PENTRU MICROTEHNOLOGIE - IMT BUCURESTI INCD (RO); INSTITUTUL NATIONAL DE CERCETARE - DEZVOLTARE PENTRU FIZICA MATERIALELOR BUCURESTI RA (RO); UNIVERSITATEA POLITEHNICA DIN BUCURESTI (RO); ROM-QUARTZ S.A. (RO)

Affiliation: UNIVERSITATEA POLITEHNICA DIN BUCURESTI (RO)

Project website: http://www.imt.ro/setsal

Abstract:

The main objective of this project consists in the manufacturing of the first temperature sensor based on a SAW type device on AlN/Si. The sensor is based on the variation of the SAW resonance frequency vs. temperature. The sensor will be characterized ”on wafer” in the 25-150 oC temperature range. The sensor structures mounted on a special ceramic carrier, provided with SMA connectors and cables, will be characterized in the 5-500 K temperature range inside a cryostat. We aim to obtain a sensitivity >75 ppm/oC (on-wafer measurements) and 60 ppm/ oC for measurements with connectors and cables, in the 23-150 oC temperature range.

The project corresponds to the world wide effort to obtain acoustic devices operating in the gigahertz frequency range, using wide band gap semiconductors (AlN, GaN). These materials have very good piezoelectric properties. High quality GaN and AlN layers grown or deposited on Sapphire SiC or Si substrate permits to use in the fabrication protocol nanolithography, micromachining techniques and monolithic integration. The advantage of using AlN for the SAW structure consist in the possibility to obtain a higher resonance frequency and a higher sensitivity for the sensor. The project has few objectives beyond the state of the art.

The main element will be a SAW structure on AlN/Si with the resonance frequency in the 6-9 GHz range. The highest resonance frequency obtained up to now for SAW structures on AlN/Si is 5.1 GHz and was reported by the IMT and INCD-FM groups, partners in this project, using an IDT structure with digits and interdigit spacing 300 nm wide. This project requires interdigitated transducers having the digit/interdigit spacing 80-150 nm wide, a challenge due to the major difficulties of the nanolithographyic process on materials like AlN or GaN. Up to now, the narrowest lines on AlN have been reported on an AlN/Diamond based SAW structure in 2012 (200 nm).

For the proposed sensor a „single resonator” structure will be developed. Compared with classical structures based on face-to-face resonators and delay lines, the single resonator structure offers few advantages: higher quality factor, lower losses and mainly, higher values for the sensitivity, as it was recently proved by IMT for GaN.

A two steps, low temperature, deposition process will be developed, for the synthesis of thin AlN films. The goal is to lower the FWHM of rocking curve at 1.5° for the AlN films deposited on Si.

There is a potential advantage of monolithic integration of the SAW based AlN temperature sensor in a CMOS ICs. AlN technology is CMOS compatible, due to its low deposition temperature. In such circuits fabrication protocols contain nanolithographic processes, therefore these processes for the sensor will not add significant costs.

The project consortium consists in four teams with excellent expertise and complementarity in the project topics. The IMT team has many contributions in the state of the art for acoustic devices on GaN and AlN, in nanolithography and microwave characterization. INCD-FM has an excellent expertise in high quality AlN films deposition. UPB has excellence expertise in design and modelling of high frequency devices and circuits. ROMQUARZ is the only Romanian enterprise with an authentiq experience in SAW type devices manufacturing on classical piezoelectric materials.They have been involved in SAW devices manufacturing on non-semiconductor materials (quartz, lithium niobate, etc) in the last 20 years.

Advanced Tools and Methodologies for the Multiphysics Modelling and Simulation of RF MEMS Switches Call name: Joint Applied Research Projects - PCCA-2011 call, Type 1
PN-II-PT-PCCA-2011-3.1-0842 2012 - 2016

Role in this project:

Coordinating institution: UNIVERSITATEA POLITEHNICA DIN BUCURESTI

Project partners: UNIVERSITATEA POLITEHNICA DIN BUCURESTI (RO); INSTITUTUL NATIONAL DE CERCETARE- DEZVOLTARE PENTRU MICROTEHNOLOGIE - IMT BUCURESTI INCD (RO)

Affiliation: UNIVERSITATEA POLITEHNICA DIN BUCURESTI (RO)

Project website: http://mems.lmn.pub.ro

Abstract:

The topic is related to the 2012 work programme for ICT of the European Commission which emphasizes the need for more integration on functionalities on chips, requiring new software development technologies and parallelisation tools. The main goal is the development of knowledge in the RF-MEMS domain by fundamental and applicative research finalized with a new modelling methodology validated by experiments, aiming to efficiently couple electromagnetic, mechanical and fluid flow phenomena for the design of RF-MEMS switches. Models of manageable size for a set of benchmarks will be manufactured and characterized. The models will account for the dependence on relevant design or operating parameters and their behaviour will be experimentally validated.

Depending on the complexity of the structures and on the target applications certain steps in the fabrication process can suffer modifications (e.g. deposition of a Benzocyclobutene (BCB) layer on the Silicon substrate, BCB representing an important determinant of package reliability), which could represent a novelty for the technological process. The target is to obtain a functional switch that can be further integrated. The structure of the switch beam must be chosen so as to produce the lowest possible insertion loss (less than -1 dB), the highest possible isolation (more than 20 dB at 20GHz), lowest possible actuation voltage (25 - 30 V) that operates up to 60 GHz. The project aims to demonstrate potential benefits of using supercomputing in the design of RF-MEMS devices, improve design capabilities for RF-MEMS MMIC technology in Romania and achieve an efficient transfer of knowledge in both directions between a research institute which is more industry oriented (IMT) and a university team specialized in high frequency modelling and high performance computing (UPB).

FILE DESCRIPTION	DOCUMENT
List of research grants as project coordinator or partner team leader
Significant R&D projects for enterprises, as project manager
R&D activities in enterprises
Peer-review activity for international programs/projects