Haiyan Wang, a Purdue University materials engineer, has developed a new approach to creating epitaxial lithium niobate (LNO) thin films used for various optics, acoustics and electronics devices.
These thin films are used in the manufacturing of high-frequency and wide-band RF filters adapted for 5G infrastructures. They are frequently used in applications requiring thin films that reduce optical and acoustic losses without in-plane twin growth domains.
“We created an approach that makes these films easier to produce,” Wang said in a press release. “We developed a versatile nanocomposite-seeded approach that allows us to create single-layer films. Typically, engineers have used a double-layer approach, which adds to the complicated production process.”
The approach uses a nanocomposite buffer layer composed of LNO-Au to serve as a template for seeding the growth of untwinned LNO films. The researchers believed the inclusion of gold could reduce twin formation by “facilitating the LNO growth and nucleation and minimizing the strain-induced domain formation.”
The Au nanoparticles, temperature and the Li-rich target reduced the formation of misfit dislocation, resulting in single domain growth.
A study on this process was published in Advanced Photonics Research. The work was supported by Sandia National Laboratories through its Academic Alliance Program.
Wang’s team and the Purdue Research Foundation’s Office of Technology Commercialization (OTC) are looking for partners to continue developing their technology. For more information on licensing and other opportunities, contact Will Buchanan of OTC at [email protected] and mention track code 2021-WANG-69382.
Wang’s team and the Purdue Research Foundation’s Office of Technology Commercialization (OTC) are looking for partners to continue developing their technology. For more information on licensing and other opportunities, contact Will Buchanan of OTC at [email protected] and mention track code 2021-WANG-69382.