Processing and on-wafer test of ferroelectric film microwave varactors

We present comparative characteristics of microwave variable capacitors (varactors) fabricated on Na0.5K0.5NbO3 (NKN), AgTa0.5Nb0.5O3 (ATN), and Ba0.5Sr0.5TiO3 (BST) ferroelectric films grown by rf-magnetron sputtering (NKN) and pulsed laser deposition (ATN and BST) techniques on the sapphire. Two port 2 mu m finger gap coplanar waveguide interdigital capacitors (CPWIDCs) were defined on ferroelectric films surface by photolithographic lift-off technique. Deembedding method was employed to extract properties of CPWIDC from the S parameters measured in microwave range up to 40 GHz. BST films on sapphire substrates show superior tunability of 26% (20 GHz, 200 kV/cm), whereas ATN films possess the lowest tan delta=0.06 at 20 GHz and extremely low dispersion of 4.3% in a whole frequency range of 45 MHz-40 GHz.(c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.