Hydrogenated aluminum nitride (AlN:H) films have been deposited on silicon wafers by the rf reactive magnetron sputtering method with H-2 gas addition to Ar-N-2 gas mixture. The changes of physical properties of AlN:H films with different H-2 gas addition have been examined by x-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The surface acoustic wave (SAW) filters with wavelength of 60 mu m using these films have been fabricated and their SAW velocities and electromechanical coupling coefficients have also been measured by a network analyzer. It is found that as the amount of H-2 addition increases, the surface of film becomes smooth, the stress is relieved, the concentration of nitrogen atom increases and that of oxygen atom decreases. We also found that AlN/AlN:H/AlN tri-layered films can prevent the blistering phenomena of AlN:H film. By measuring SAW characteristics of AlN/AlN:H/AlN tri-layered films, the SAW velocity is calculated to be 5280 m/s and electromechanical coupling coefficient is 1.35% which is the highest value reported so far.