Harmonic GHz surface-acoustic-wave filters with unidirectional transducers.

The fabrication of fundamental-mode surface-acoustic-wave (SAW) filters for gigahertz frequencies requires an elaborate photolithographic process. In order to reduce process demands or to increase the possible frequency range, interdigital transducers can be designed to work on spatial harmonics. However, harmonic filters are known to be unattractive because of their high insertion loss. It is shown that harmonic gigahertz filters made with unidirectional transducers can have moderate insertion loss. Two third-harmonic filters at 1.4 GHz and 2.5 GHz, using two-phase unidirectional transducers, are described. A simple model for calculating the input impedance of harmonic surface-transverse-wave (STW) transducers is presented.