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Effect of Thin Aluminum Coatings on Structural Damping of Silicon Microresonators

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 January 2011

Guruprasad Sosale
Affiliation:
[email protected], McGill University, Mechanical Engineering, Montreal, Canada
Sairam Prabhakar
Affiliation:
[email protected], McGill University, Mechanical Engineering, Montreal, Canada
Luc Frechette
Affiliation:
[email protected], Universite de Sherbrooke, Mechanical Engineering, Sherbrooke, Canada
Srikar Vengallatore
Affiliation:
[email protected], McGill University, Mechanical Engineering, Montreal, Canada
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Abstract

Quantifying the effects of thin metallic coatings on the damping factors of micro- and nanomechanical resonators is important for the design of high-performance devices for sensing and communications. This study presents experimental results for the increase in damping caused by aluminum films coated on cantilevered single-crystal silicon beams. The monolithic silicon beams (100 to 125 microns thick) can operate at the ultimate limits of dissipation established by thermoelastic damping with quality factors ranging from 104 to 105. However, coating these beams with 60 to 100 nm of aluminum can increase the damping by factors of three to five. These results provide guidelines for designing composite micromechanical resonators, and establish the foundation of a new approach for accurate measurement of internal friction in substrate-bonded thin films.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2010

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