Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology B, Vol.26, No.6, 2619-2623, 2008
Electrothermal actuation studies on silicon carbide resonators
The electromechanical behavior of SiC clamped-clamped beam (bridge) resonators with u-shaped aluminium (Al) electrodes on top has been studied as a function of electrode length, width, and spacing. Negative and positive deflections have been observed, indicating a complex interplay exhibited by the combined single material and bimorph characteristics of the resonator structures. It has been found that, both experimentally and theoretically, devices with electrodes applied on the root of the beam have similar or higher displacement amplitudes compared to devices with electrodes covering the half or the entire beam. Moreover, the displacement and vibration amplitudes can be maximized by increasing the electrode width and/or decreasing the spacing.
Keywords:aluminium;electrodes;microactuators;micromechanical resonators;silicon compounds;wide band gap semiconductors