CAREER: Toward Smart Surface Acoustic Wave Devices with Gate-Tunability

表面声波（saw）是一种在弹性固体表面传播的声波。它们携带重要的信息，可以与压电基板相互作用，共同导致广泛的应用，包括滤波，模拟信号处理和量子声学器件。然而，大多数声表面波器件具有固定的配置和有限的可调性，并且无法实时操纵其性能。这样的缺点限制了当前使用SAW作为基本平台的电子设备的能力。它是实现信息时代所追求的saw智能控制的主要障碍。这项教师早期职业发展（Career）提案旨在通过开发和优化可调谐SAW组件来克服这一技术差距，这些组件超越了被动的单一功能设备。具体来说，它允许方便和可重构调谐saw通过提供一个小的栅极电压。本研究将增强对SAW在压电基板上传播的基本理解，并实现可应用于各种场景的单片智能SAW内核，最终实现用于传感、通信和生物医学应用的智能集成设备。该项目还将通过与当地社区大学的合作，帮助减少高质量STEM教育的障碍。它将提高各级学生的教育和研究经验，特别是那些来自代表性不足群体的学生，以培养和留住他们在STEM领域。本提案的目标是通过利用电声效应开发具有扩展功能和可调性的新型集成SAW器件。为了实现这一目标，将建立理论和数值模型，从微观波物质相互作用的角度量化压电和机电耦合。基于声表面波传播产生的线性和非线性效应，将确定具有门可调谐特征的新调谐机制。与这些调谐方法相关的材料、配置和制造过程将被系统地测试和优化，以降低电压要求和响应时间。实验测量将进行，以证明可调谐的声呐传播与改进的性能，容量和带宽。开发的可调谐SAW组件将作为智能内核，与控制电路以及其他支持硬件相结合，实现智能多功能集成片上设备。所提出的方法的适用性将在许多场景中得到验证，例如可重构滤波，多功能传感和基于可编程锯的粒子操作。该研究将通过提供一种强大的方法，促进对电致弹性调制以及可集成到各种系统中的栅极可调谐组件的基本理解，从而有助于下一代智能SAW器件的发展。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Surface acoustic waves (SAWs) are a type of sound waves that propagate at the surface of elastic solids. They carry important information and can interact with piezoelectric substrates, which together lead to a wide range of applications including filtering, analog signal processing, and quantum acoustic devices. However, most of the SAW devices have fixed configurations and limited tunability, and their properties cannot be manipulated in real-time. Such a drawback limits the ability of current electronic devices that use SAW as a fundamental platform. It represents a major barrier to achieving smart and intelligent control of SAWs, which is a pursuit in the information era. This Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) proposal aims to overcome this technological gap by developing and optimizing tunable SAW components that go beyond passive, single-functionality devices. Specifically, it allows for convenient and reconfigurable tuning of SAWs by supplying a small gate voltage. This research will enhance the fundamental understanding of SAWs propagating on piezoelectric substrates and realize monolithic smart SAW kernels that can be applied in various scenarios to ultimately enable intelligent integrated devices for sensing, communication, and biomedical applications. The program will also help mitigate barriers to high-quality STEM education through the partnership with local community colleges. It will advance the education and research experience of students at all levels, especially those from underrepresented groups to cultivate and retain them in the STEM fields.The objective of this proposal is to develop novel integrated SAW devices with expanded functionality and tunability by harnessing the electro-acoustic effects. To achieve this, theoretical and numerical models will be established to quantify the piezoelectric and electromechanical couplings from a microscopic wave-matter interaction perspective. New tuning mechanisms with gate-tunable features will be identified based on both linear and nonlinear effects arising from SAW propagation. The material, configuration, and fabrication process associated with these tuning approaches will be systematically tested and optimized with the goal of reducing the voltage requirement and response time. Experimental measurements will be performed to demonstrate tunable SAW propagation with improved performance, capacity, and bandwidth. The developed tunable SAW component will serve as a smart kernel, which will be coupled with control circuits as well as other supporting hardware to realize intelligent and multi-functional integrated on-chip devices. The applicability of the proposed approach will be validated in a number of scenarios such as reconfigurable filtering, multi-functional sensing, and programmable SAW-based particle manipulation. The research will contribute to the development of next-generation smart SAW devices by providing a powerful approach that promotes a fundamental understanding of electrically induced elasticity modulation as well as gate-tunable components that can be integrated into diverse systems.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.