Author Description

III-nitrides have demonstrated operation at high electrical powers and high frequencies, sustaining high temperatures and harsh environments, and have enabled light sources and detectors in the blue to deep ultraviolet spectral ranges. Piezoelectric properties of aluminum nitride, gallium nitride, indium nitride, and their alloys provide potential for the integration of a light source, controlling electronics and the surface acoustic waves (SAW) device on the same chip. This book deals with the propagation of the Rayleigh-type and leaky surface acoustic waves (LSAW) in bulk and layered nitrides and with the acousto-optic (AO) diffraction of guided optical waves from the SAWs in AlxGa1-xN-on- sapphire structures. This investigation allowed for the extraction of a full set of elastic and piezoelectric constants for AlN. The increase in the diffraction efficiency with the decreasing optical wavelength makes AlGaN very promising for AO applications in the deep UV region.