Surface acoustic wave transducers fabricated by femtosecond laser ablation

The fabrication of surface acoustic wave (SAW) devices by femtosecond laser micromachining has been demonstrated. The interdigital SAW transducers of 50 m wavelength were formed on YZ lithium niobate substrate by femtosecond pulse ablation of an aluminium layer. The two-port SAW device has insertion loss of 11 dB at 68 MHz. The S-parameter measurements revealed no degradation in substrate elastic, piezoelectric, and dielectric properties of the substrate due to laser processing.