Remote collection and measurement of photogenerated carriers swept by surface acoustic waves in GaN

The interaction of surface acoustic waves and photogenerated carriers in GaN has been used for the fabrication of a remote ultraviolet detector where the carrier collector electrode is far away from the illuminated region. In this device, the recombination of the photogenerated carriers at the region where they are created is prevented by the potential fields associated with the acoustic wave; and the carriers are swept by the acoustic wave to the collector electrode. This effect is strongly dependent on the frequency and power of the acoustic waves and therefore of the input radio frequency signal. New optoelectronic devices based on the combination of the acoustic and electronic properties of the semiconductors can be envisaged. (C) 2004 American Institute of Physics.