Physics and application of surface acoustic waves on various structures of gallium arsenide

Abstract

This paper is to review theoretical and experimental investigations of acoustoelectric properties of GaAs, carried out over a large period of time at the Semiconductor Physics Institute. The phenomena investigated include the propagation of surface acoustic waves (SAW) in the [1,-1,0] direction on the traditional (001) cut as well as the cuts (11n), where n=1, 2, 3, the transduction of electrical signals into the SAW and vice versa, resonance of SAW, acoustic charge transport (ACT), acoustic signal delay, SAW propagation on layered structures, and acoustic signal mixing in the nonlinear regime. One of the main implications of the results presented is that the (112) cut of GaAs has a significant advantage with respect to the traditional one because of much stronger electromechanical coupling. The perspectives of employing the structures of GaAs for the design of various SAW devices are considered.