Single-mode and ultra-broadband gigahertz surface acoustic waveguides on AlN-on-SiC substrates

This paper proposes a class of high-performance surface acoustic wave (SAW) waveguides based on AlN-on-SiC substrates. Under the existing crystal growth and processing technology, these SAW waveguides offer excellent performance in single mode, low loss, ultra-broadband, operating at gigahertz frequencies. Quasi-Rayleigh SAWs can be excited by traditional interdigital transducers and guided freely with excellent efficiency. Based on these SAW waveguides, we further demonstrate SAW splitters and ring cavities with ultra-high qualities up to 107. These SAW components complement future integrated phononic circuits for high-frequency and compact acoustic manipulating, signal processing, sensing, computing, etc.