Use of Hierarchical Cascading Technique for FEM Analysis of Transverse-Mode Behaviors in Surface Acoustic-Wave Devices

This article describes the application of the hierarchical cascading technique (HCT) to the 3-D finite-element method (FEM) analysis of transverse-mode behaviors in surface acoustic-wave (SAW) devices. Mirror cascading is proposed as a speed-up technique for the HCT operation using the general-purpose graphic processing unit (GPGPU). Two methods are implemented for the analysis: one is impedance calculation and the other is the calculation of SAW scattering coefficients at boundaries. It is demonstrated that HCT enables rapid calculation for successive simulation with scanning design parameters. Thus, techniques discussed in this article are quite effective for the optimization of device structures. It is also shown that GPGPU can accelerate HCT calculation dramatically, especially for 3-D cases discussed in this article.