+PRECISE +EFFICIENT +INTEGRATED
To fabricate a high-quality MEMS resonator, it is essential to know the damping properties of its components, notably those related to internal friction in thin films (50 to 500 nm thick). For the first time, professors Vengallatore and Fréchette have succeeded in accurately measuring this data, thanks to a silicon microcantilever, which made it possible to work at the dissipation limit established by thermoelastic amortization.
This strategy made it possible to showcase an important phenomenon in the field of MEMS resonators: gold films dissipate less energy than aluminium or silver films at frequencies between 100 Hz and 1.5 kHz. It also showed that internal friction phenomena are dominated by defects induced during the production of the films. This work will serve to guide fabrication methods in order to obtain high-quality resonators.
REFERENCE
[1] G. Sosale, S. Prabhakar, L.G. Frechette, S. Vengallatore, Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems, 20, 3, 764-773 (2011)
RESEARCHERS
G. Sosale, D. Almecija and Pr. S.Vengallatore (Université McGill), Pr. L. Fréchette (Université de Sherbrooke)