Low phase-noise UHF thin-film piezoelectric-on-substrate LBAR oscillators

Abstract

This paper reports on the first demonstration of a low phase-noise 467 MHz temperature-compensated oscillator based on a ZnO-on-nanocrystalline diamond lateral bulk acoustic resonator (LBAR). The temperature compensation is achieved by using a thin silicon-dioxide buffer layer on the surface of the diamond film. The oscillator performance is compared with an uncompensated 496 MHz AIN-on-silicon oscillator. The sustaining circuitry is comprised of a 9.4 mW tunable transimpedance amplifier (TIA) in 0.18 mum CMOS. The phase-noise is measured below -80dBc/Hz at 1kHz offset with temperature drift of < -4ppm/degC from -5degC to 90degC.