AVS 51st International Symposium
    MEMS and NEMS Tuesday Sessions
       Session MN-TuM

Paper MN-TuM4
Chemical Control of Micromechanical Resonators: The Role of Surface Chemistry

Tuesday, November 16, 2004, 9:20 am, Room 213C

Session: MEMS and NEMS: Enabling Tools for Scientific Research
Presenter: J.A. Henry, Cornell University
Authors: J.A. Henry, Cornell University
Y. Wang, Cornell University
D. Sengupta, Cornell University
M.A. Hines, Cornell University
Correspondent: Click to Email
The development of high-performance micromechanical resonators would enable advances in many technologies; however, many researchers have noted that the quality factor, or Q, of micromechanical resonators decreases with decreasing resonator size (i.e. increasing resonator frequency.) We have previously shown that the rate of mechanical energy dissipation, which is inversely proportional to Q, in MHz-range micromechanical silicon resonators is strongly affected by the chemical state of the resonator surface. In this presentation, we will present functionalized silicon resonators that have higher performance than the H-terminated resonators -- the previously demonstrated "best termination." Additionally, these functionalized resonators are relatively stable; little degradation is seen after a week in 100% humidity air. The implications of these results on the mechanism of surface-chemistry-induced mechanical energy dissipation will be discussed.