Dependence of the resonant frequency of micromachined gold microbeams on polarisation voltage

✍ Scribed by P. Attia; P. Hesto

• Book ID: 104157951
• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1998
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 364 KB
• Volume: 29
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0026-2692
• DOI: 10.1016/s0026-2692(98)00006-8

✦ Synopsis

We demonstrate the feasibility of micromachined tuneable gold cantilever beams. The test structures, composed of a deflectable cantilever microbeam, two lateral driving electrodes and a working part, are fabricated using a micromachining process with a single mask. The microbeams are typically 1/~m wide and 2/zm high, with variable lengths ranging from 40 to 60/~m to achieve natural resonant frequencies (/Co) greater than 100 kHz. These resonators are electrostatically excited with a signal: v(t) = Vp + v sin ~t. Varying the polarisation voltage (Vp) produced a shift in the observed resonant frequency (fobs) of a few percent around f0, which makes this system tuneable. We describe the fabrication process, the frequency response and the frequency tuning of this device.