Employing graphene acoustoelectric switch by dual surface acoustic wave transducers

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 9; no. 1; p. 8235
• Main Authors: Lee, Ching-Ping, Hong, Yu-Peng, Shen, Man-Ting, Tang, Chiu-Chun, Ling, D. C., Chen, Yung-Fu, Wu, Cen-Shawn, Chen, Jeng-Chung
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 03.06.2019; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 639/925/918; 639/925/927; Acoustics; Humanities and Social Sciences; multidisciplinary; Science; Science (multidisciplinary)
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-44689-z

We implement a logic switch by using a graphene acoustoelectric transducer at room temperature. We operate two pairs of inter-digital transducers (IDTs) to launch surface acoustic waves (SAWs) on a LiNbO 3 substrate and utilize graphene as a channel material to sustain acoustoelectric current I ae induced by SAWs. By cooperatively tuning the input power on the IDTs, we can manipulate the propagation direction of I ae such that the measured I ae can be deliberately controlled to be positive, negative, or even zero. We define the zero-crossing I ae as I a e o f f , and then demonstrate that I ae can be switched with a ratio I a e o n / I a e o f f ~ 10 4 at a rate up to few tens kHz. Our device with an accessible operation scheme provides a means to convert incoming acoustic waves modulated by digitized data sequence onto electric signals with frequency band suitable for digital audio modulation. Consequently, it could potentially open a route for developing graphene-based logic devices in large-scale integration electronics.