Octave-Tunable Magnetostatic Wave YIG Resonators on a Chip

TL;DR

This paper reports the development of on-chip YIG magnetostatic wave resonators with high quality factors and octave tunability, achieved through novel fabrication techniques including YIG etching and integrated coplanar waveguides.

Contribution

It introduces a new fabrication process for YIG resonators on a chip, enabling high-Q, tunable MSW resonators with integrated excitation components.

Findings

Resonators achieve Q > 5000 at 4.77 GHz

Tunable from 3.63 to 7.63 GHz with external magnetic field

Multiple resonators can be fabricated on a single chip

Abstract

We have designed, fabricated, and characterized magnetostatic wave (MSW) resonators on a chip. The resonators are fabricated by patterning single-crystal yttrium iron garnet (YIG) film on a gadolinium gallium garnet (GGG) substrate and excited by loop-inductor transducers. We achieved this technology breakthrough by developing a YIG film etching process and fabricating thick aluminum coplanar waveguide (CPW) inductor loop around each resonator to individually address and excite MSWs. At 4.77 GHz, the 0.68 square mm resonator achieves a quality factor Q > 5000 with a bias field of 987 Oe. We also demonstrate YIG resonator tuning by more than one octave from 3.63 to 7.63 GHz by applying an in-plane external magnetic field. The measured quality factor of the resonator is consistently over 3000 above 4 GHz. The micromachining technology enables the fabrication of multiple single- and two-port YIG resonators on the same chip with all resonators demonstrating octave tunability and high Q .