Surface Acoustic Wave Actuated MEMS Magnetoelectric Antenna

Abstract

Acoustic wave actuated magnetoelectric (ME) antennas represent a promising avenue for antenna miniaturization. However, ME antennas, typically based on bulk acoustic wave (BAW) resonance mode, have an orthogonal configuration for strain and magnetization directions, limiting ME coupling efficiency. In this work, we propose and demonstrate a surface acoustic wave (SAW) actuated electromagnetic (EM) wave radiation in a ME heterostructure, in which the strain and magnetization both lies in same direction. We find a strong enhancement of the SAW ME antenna gain with the increase of the ferromagnetic film thickness, demonstrating a magnetic origin of the proposed radiation mechanism. The SAW ME antennas reach a maximum gain of −28 dBi at 430 MHz and a high fractional bandwidth of 1.60%, despite their compact size, approximately one percent of the EM wavelength. These findings pave the way for advancing the development of miniaturized ultra-high frequency antennas, offering potential breakthroughs in ME antenna design and performance.