Precision measurement of the surface acoustic wave velocity on silicon single crystals using optical excitation and detection

Abstract

Surface acoustic wave (SAW) and pseudo surface acoustic wave (PSAW) pulses were excited on the (001) and (111) planes of silicon single crystals using ps laser pulses of 248-nm wavelength. An optical beam deflection technique with a bandwidth of 600 MHz was developed for the detection of SAW with high spatial resolution. With this technique the SAW velocities on these silicon planes were determined with an accuracy of 0.1% in various directions of propagation.