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    Polarization manipulation of surface acoustic waves by metallization patterns on a piezoelectric substrate
    (Melville, NY : AIP Publishing, 2020) Weser, R.; Darinskii, A.N.; Schmidt, H.
    Surface acoustic waves (SAWs) with large normal (vertical) surface displacement at the surface are commonly utilized in microfluidic actuators in order to provide the desired momentum transfer to the fluid. We present an alternative concept using a SAW with comparatively small vertical displacement. Such a SAW passes underneath the microfluidic vessel walls with minimum losses but it needs to be converted inside the vessel into surface vibrations with large vertical displacements. The principal operability of the above idea is illustrated by experimental and numerical studies of the polarization conversion of a leaky SAW on 64° rotated Y-cut of lithium niobate owing to the partial metallization of the substrate surface. In particular, it is found that vertical displacements on the metallized surface can be up to 3.5 times higher as compared to their values on the free surface. Results of computations agree reasonably well with measurements carried out with a laser Doppler vibrometer and allow the clarification of some specific features of this polarization conversion by means of spatial frequency analysis. © 2020 Author(s).
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    Patterning and control of the nanostructure in plasma thin films with acoustic waves: mechanical vs. electrical polarization effects
    (Cambridge : RSC Publ., 2021) García-Valenzuela, Aurelio; Fakhfouri, Armaghan; Oliva-Ramírez, Manuel; Rico-Gavira, Victor; Rojas, Teresa Cristina; Alvarez, Rafael; Menzel, Siegfried B.; Palmero, Alberto; Winkler, Andreas; González-Elipe, Agustín R.
    Nanostructuration and 2D patterning of thin films are common strategies to fabricate biomimetic surfaces and components for microfluidic, microelectronic or photonic applications. This work presents the fundamentals of a surface nanotechnology procedure for laterally tailoring the nanostructure and crystalline structure of thin films that are plasma deposited onto acoustically excited piezoelectric substrates. Using magnetron sputtering as plasma technique and TiO2 as case example, it is demonstrated that the deposited films depict a sub-millimetre 2D pattern that, characterized by large lateral differences in nanostructure, density (up to 50%), thickness, and physical properties between porous and dense zones, reproduces the wave features distribution of the generated acoustic waves (AW). Simulation modelling of the AW propagation and deposition experiments carried out without plasma and under alternative experimental conditions reveal that patterning is not driven by the collision of ad-species with mechanically excited lattice atoms of the substrate, but emerges from their interaction with plasma sheath ions locally accelerated by the AW-induced electrical polarization field developed at the substrate surface and growing film. The possibilities of the AW activation as a general approach for the tailored control of nanostructure, pattern size, and properties of thin films are demonstrated through the systematic variation of deposition conditions and the adjustment of AW operating parameters.