Voltage controlled SAW velocity in GaAs/LiNbO(3)-hybrids

The combination of the electronic properties of semiconductor heterojunctions and the acoustic properties of piezoelectric materials yields very promising surface acoustic wave (SAW) hybrid systems. Quasi-monolithical integration of thin GaAs/InGaAs/AlGaAs-quantum well structures on LiNbO(3) SAW devices is achieved using the epitaxial lift-off (ELO) technique. The conductivity of the two-dimensional electron system in the quantum well, which can be controlled via field effect, modifies the velocity of the SAW. Due to the high electromechanical coupling coefficient of LiNbO(3) a large phase shift can be obtained. As an example for this new class of voltage-tunable single chip SAW devices, a voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) is presented in which the output frequency can be tuned by an applied gate voltage.