Propagation of longitudinal leaky surface waves under periodic metal grating structure on lithium tetraborate.

The dispersion properties of longitudinal leaky surface waves propagating under the periodic Al strip grating on lithium tetraborate (Li(2)B(4)O(7); LBO) are described theoretically and experimentally for applications of the mode to high frequency SAW devices. A theoretical method developed here is based on Floquet's theorem using space harmonics as an orthogonal function set and real boundary integral equations derived from the method of weighted residuals for a period of each region, i.e., substrate, metal, and free space. The boundary integral equations are solved by using the Galerkin procedure. The periodic strip gratings with both single-electrodes and double-electrodes are investigated, considering the convergency of the numerical computation for the number of the space harmonics. As a result, the propagation loss for shorted gratings was found to be relatively low in the thickness range of the Al strip below about 1% for the single-electrodes and 2% for the double-electrodes, although it greatly increases for a thickness over 2% for the single-electrodes and 3% for the double-electrodes.