Effect of surface chemistry on the quality factors of micromechanical resonators

Joshua A. Henry; Yu Wang; Melissa A. Hines

doi:10.1117/12.883185

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13 May 2011 Effect of surface chemistry on the quality factors of micromechanical resonators

Joshua A. Henry, Yu Wang, Melissa A. Hines

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Proceedings Volume 8031, Micro- and Nanotechnology Sensors, Systems, and Applications III; 80311A (2011) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.883185
Event: SPIE Defense, Security, and Sensing, 2011, Orlando, Florida, United States

Abstract

Single monolayers of molecules were found to strongly affect the quality factors of MHz-range torsional silicon resonators. By changing a single monolayer of molecules on the surface of a 5-μm-wide, 250-nm-thick silicon resonator - less than 0.07% of the total mass - the quality factor of the resonator was increased by 70%. In contrast, the standard commercial coating, a thin layer of silicon oxide, dissipates at least 75% of the mechanical energy in similarly sized resonators. Since the relative importance of these surface chemical losses scales with the resonator's surface-to-volume ratio, the development of low-loss, stable surface chemistries will be important for the production of high-performance micro- and nano-mechanical devices.

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Joshua A. Henry, Yu Wang, and Melissa A. Hines "Effect of surface chemistry on the quality factors of micromechanical resonators", Proc. SPIE 8031, Micro- and Nanotechnology Sensors, Systems, and Applications III, 80311A (13 May 2011); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.883185

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