The propagation of nonlinear surface acoustic wave (SAW) pulses was investigated in anisotropic single-crystal silicon. The effects of frequency-up and frequency-down conversion were found to depend on the plane and direction of SAW propagation, yielding a variety of waveforms. The formation of steep shock fronts that broke the covalent crystal was observed in the $〈112〉$ direction of the Si(111) plane. Solitary behavior of surface waves was studied by investigating the interaction between nonlinearity and dispersion for silicon covered with a thin oxide layer.

• Received 31 March 1999

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.83.3876