In the present study, piezoelectric resonators under lateral field excitation (LFE) based on a LiTaO3 single crystal are modeled and analyzed. An electrically forced vibration study is employed to acquire the motional capacitance curve and vibration mode shapes. A finite element approach is utilized to investigate the influences of some basic parameters, such as the electrode/plate mass ratio, electrode gap, and electrode width on resonance characteristics. In addition, the design criteria for the gap and width of the electrode of the LiTaO3 LFE resonators are obtained by analyzing the effects of those parameters on vibration strain distributions. The obtained results are essential for designing LFE piezoelectric resonators by using a LiTaO3 single crystal.
