Abstract
The propagation of nonlinear surface acoustic wave (SAW) pulses was investigated in anisotropic single-crystal silicon. The effects of frequency-up and frequency-down conversion were found to depend on the plane and direction of SAW propagation, yielding a variety of waveforms. The formation of steep shock fronts that broke the covalent crystal was observed in the direction of the Si(111) plane. Solitary behavior of surface waves was studied by investigating the interaction between nonlinearity and dispersion for silicon covered with a thin oxide layer.
- Received 31 March 1999
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.83.3876
©1999 American Physical Society