Acoustic waveguiding in a silicon carbide phononic crystals at microwave frequencies

Two dimensional SiC-air phononic crystals have been modeled, fabricated, and tested with a measured bandgap ranging from 665 to 693 MHz. Snowflake air inclusions on a hexagonal lattice were used for the phononic crystal. By manipulating the phononic crystal lattice and inserting circular inclusions, a waveguide was created at 680 MHz. The combined insertion loss and propagation loss for the waveguide is 8.2 dB, i.e., 39% of the energy is guided due to the high level of the confinement afforded by the phononic crystal. The SiC-air phononic crystals and waveguides were fabricated using a CMOS-compatible process, which allows for seamless integration of these devices into wireless communication systems operating at microwave frequencies.