Recently, the research group led by Professor Zhou Changjian at the School of Microelectronics has successfully achieved gate-voltage-tunable bipolar acoustic currents by integrating WSe₂ field-effect transistors with high-efficiency surface acoustic wave (SAW) devices. This breakthrough enables the detection and dynamic regulation of alternating-current acoustic currents within two-dimensional material systems, thereby overcoming the limitation of conventional two-dimensional acoustic-electric hybrid platforms (2D-ACT) being restricted to direct-current parameter measurements.

Surface acoustic wave (SAW) devices, as key components in modern communication and sensing technologies, have sought significant attention in fields such as signal processing and information transmission due to their miniaturisation, low loss, and high responsiveness. With ongoing advancements in the physical properties of two-dimensional materials and device fabrication techniques, the acoustic-electric hybrid platform (2D-ACT) integrating SAW technology with two-dimensional materials demonstrates unique advantages in non-contact regulation, real-time response, and multifunctional integration. This not only paves new technological pathways for next-generation wireless communications and high-precision sensing systems but also enables dynamic manipulation of charge carriers at the microscopic scale, significantly overcoming the functional limitations of conventional SAW devices.

In research integrating surface acoustic wave (SAW) technology with high-performance two-dimensional semiconductor devices, a longstanding key challenge has been the simultaneous processing of both direct current and alternating current analogue signals on a single platform. The research team led by Prof. Zhou further employed bidirectionally propagating SAW to construct a standing wave field. By precisely controlling their phase and amplitude, they achieved coherent superposition and cancellation operations on analogue signals. This approach introduces a novel capability to the 2D-ACT platform for directly executing analogue signal computations, expanding pathways for analogue information processing within low-dimensional material systems.

The platform's innovations in structural design, acoustic-electric coupling optimisation and signal processing capabilities render it suitable not only for high-frequency, low-power wireless communication systems, but also offer novel approaches for precision sensing and multi-physics field regulation.

The research findings, titled ‘Comprehensive analogue signal processing platform enabled by acoustic charge transport in two-dimensional materials’, have been published in Science Advances. The School of Microelectronics at South China University of Technology is listed as the primary institution. Associate Professor Zhou Changjian is the sole corresponding author, with 2022 doctoral student Sun Yueyi serving as the first author.

This work benefited from the participation and assistance of researchers from The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, and Santa Clara University in the United States. The fabrication and testing of relevant devices were supported by the Micro & Nano Electronics Platform(MNEP) of South China University of Technology.

Source from SCUT News

Translated by SHI Weipeng

Initial Review by AN Yufan

Final Review by WU Zhaosheng