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A team of engineers has designed a mechanism that creates subtle, quake-like tremors on a computer chip’s surface. They suggest that this could eventually be employed in signal processing within common electronic devices, possibly leading to more compact, quicker, and more energy-efficient wireless technology.
In a recent study released on Jan. 14 in the scientific journal Nature, the scientists characterized their creation as a surface acoustic wave (SAW) phonon laser, which produces minute, rapid vibrations.
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Within the natural world, SAWs manifest on a grand scale when the planet’s tectonic plates grind together, resulting in seismic events.
SAWs also serve as filters inside smartphones, supporting the refinement of wireless signals. A device’s receiver picks up radio frequencies from a nearby cell tower and then transforms these into minute physical oscillations, facilitating the removal of undesirable background noise.
Multiple chips are responsible for converting radio waves into SAWs and reversing the process each time you text, call or browse the web.
SAWs in modern technology
Although conceptually akin to the seismic ground waves generated by earthquakes, SAWs are significantly smaller and unable to be measured by any scale such as the moment magnitude scale, used for estimating the energy discharged by movements in the Earth’s crust.
SAW mechanisms are crucial to a lot of the world’s most essential technologies, according to Matt Eichenfield, a senior author of the study and a quantum engineering professor at the University of Colorado Boulder. He mentioned mobile phones, electronic key fobs, garage remote controls, nearly every GPS device, and radar equipment as examples.
According to the researchers, the creation of a completely solid-state, individual chip that generates stable SAWs at elevated frequencies, without the need for an external source of radio frequency, has never been done before.
Typically, common SAW components demand a separate power supply in addition to two distinct chips. The group’s objective for their design was to provide comparable functionality using just a single chip — potentially enabling significantly higher frequencies to be powered by the standard cell phone battery.
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The device was assembled by the scientists by layering incredibly thin sheets of different chip elements into a diminutive “bar” approximately 0.02 inches (0.5 millimeters) in length.
The stack included a silicon foundation, a fine coating of lithium niobate (a piezoelectric crystal variety that changes electrical currents to mechanical motions), and an upper layer of indium gallium arsenide, a semiconductor able to ramp up electrons to extraordinarily high velocities when introduced to an electrical realm.
The system’s operational principle involves continually enhancing vibrations as they are reflected inside the device, similarly to light intensification in a diode laser using two mirrors. The surface vibrations within the lithium niobate affect the electrons inside the indium gallium arsenide, thereby raising the energy of the waves during their progression.
“Almost 99% of its energy is lost when it moves in reverse, so we made sure it obtained significant forward gain to overcome this,” stated Wendt in the announcement.
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The team produced surface waves operating at around 1 gigahertz — equivalent to billions of oscillations per second — while believing the design is capable of being increased into the tens or hundreds of gigahertz range. According to the scientists, this greatly surpasses the performance capabilities of typical SAW devices, which generally peak around 4 GHz.
The ultimate aim is to make the way phones process wireless signals less complex — particularly, by developing a solitary chip that can transform radio frequencies into SAWs and back, employing surface waves for much of the signal operation. This could make it feasible for future wireless devices to filter and direct signals using smaller chips, consuming reduced energy.
“This phonon laser was the final hurdle we faced,” Wendt added. “Now we have the ability to create virtually every radio component needed on a single chip utilizing similar technology.”
Article Sources
Wendt, A., Storey, M.J., Miller, M. et al. An electrically injected solid-state surface acoustic wave phonon laser. Nature 649, 597–603 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09950-8
Owen Hughes
Owen Hughes functions as a contract writer and editor specializing in data and digital technologies. Previously occupying a senior editor role at ZDNET, Owen has dedicated more than a decade to writing about technology, covering subjects ranging from AI, cybersecurity, and supercomputers, to programming languages and IT within the public sector. Owen takes particular interest in the junction of technology, life, and occupation – demonstrated by his extensive writing on topics like business leadership, digital transformation, and the shifting landscape of remote work in his prior positions at both ZDNET and TechRepublic.
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