Electrically Tunable Surface Acoustic Wave Propagation at MHz Frequencies Based on Carbon Nanotube Thin‐Film Transistors

Abstract

Surface acoustic waves (SAWs) that propagate on the surface of a solid at MHz frequencies are widely used in sensing, communication, and acoustic tweezers. However, their properties are difficult to be tuned electrically, and current devices suffer from complicated configurations, complicated tuning mechanisms, or small ranges of tunability. Here a structure featuring a thin‐film transistor configuration is proposed to achieve electrically tunable SAW propagation based on conductivity tuning. When a DC gate voltage is applied, the on‐site conductivity of the piezoelectric substrate is modulated, which leads to velocity and amplitude tuning of SAWs. The use of carbon nanotubes and crystalline nanocellulose as the channel and gate materials results in high tuning capacity and low gate voltage requirement. The tunability is manifested by a 2.5% phase velocity tuning and near 10 dB on/off switching of the signals. The proposed device holds the potential for the next generation SAW‐based devices.

Document Details

Document Type
Pub Defense Publication
Publication Date
Feb 25, 2021
Source ID
10.1002/adfm.202010744

Entities

People

  • Aaron D. Franklin
  • Chen Shen
  • Jorge A Cardenas
  • Junfei Li
  • Shiheng Lu
  • Shujie Yang
  • Steven A Cummer
  • Tony Jun Huang
  • Xiuyuan Peng
  • Zhenhua Tian

Organizations

  • Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs
  • Duke University
  • Mississippi State University
  • National Institutes of Health
  • National Science Foundation
  • Rowan University

Tags

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Integrated Circuit Design and Technology.
  • Quantum Dot Semiconductor Device Photonics and Graphene Optoelectronic Materials and THz Physics.
  • Wave Propagation and Nonlinear Chaotic Dynamics.