Fractal phononic crystals in aluminum nitride: An approach to ultra high frequency bandgaps

This letter reports on the design and experimental demonstration of a microscale fractal-like phononic bandgap (PBG) structure in aluminum nitride (AlN). The micro-fabricated fractal phononic crystals (PnCs) exhibit two frequency stop bands for symmetric lamb waves in the Γ-Χ direction centered about 900 MHz (bandwidth of 11.1%) and 1.10 GHz (bandwidth of 9.1%) with maximum acoustic rejection of 40 dB. Differently from the conventional phononic bandgap designs, the unit cell consists of a center air square scatterer with four side air square scatterers repeating at its corners. The presence of these side squares essentially shortens the scattering distance between the unit cells and translates into the suppression of higher frequency vibrational modes. In other words, this design is capable of extending the frequency of operation of the PBGs for a given unit cell and minimum feature size. For the purpose of the demonstration, AlN lamb wave transducers were utilized to launch symmetric lamb waves into the PBG structure. The evidence of direct in-plane integration between the transducers and the PnC structure operating in the ultra high frequency range lays the foundation for the development of ultrasonic devices based on PBGs.