Fabrication and characterization of microelectromechanical resonators

Abstract

Micromachined mechanical resonators are of considerable interest because of their many important scienti c and technological applications. They can be used as a components of radio-frequency lters in communication systems, mechanical electrometer or magnetometer for sensitive detection of force, charge, pressure. This work is directed towards the fabrication and characterization of microelectromechanical resonators, cantilevers and bridges. The SOI cantilever and the silicon nitride cantilevers and bridges are fabricated by using surface micromachining techniques. They are fabricated in the Advanced Research Laboratory of Bilkent University. The center frequencies are ranging from 20 kHz to 270 kHz. The characterization of cantilevers and bridges are done by using the beam de ection method and the ber optic interferometer method. The dynamic response of the rst devices, such as the resonance frequencies and the quality factors will be reported. In addition, simple beam theory and some fundamental loss mechanisms will be discussed. The experimental results will also be compared with the theoretical ones.