A surface acoustic wave functional element is provided that includes a piezoelectric substrate or a multilayer piezoelectric substrate having a large electromechanical coupling coefficient. Semiconductor layers are formed on the piezoelectric substrate. The semiconductor layers include an active layer and a buffer layer. The buffer layer is formed of a structure that has a lattice constant that is the same as or similar to that of the active layer. In addition, input and output electrodes are formed on both sides of the semiconductor layers. The surface acoustic wave functional element attains a large amplification gain at low voltage, and can be used as part of a transmitting/receiving circuit in a high frequency portion of a mobile communication device.