Ultra-thin-film AlN contour-mode resonators for sensing applications

Author

Rinaldi, Matteo ; Zuniga, Chiara ; Piazza, Gianluca

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. & Syst. Eng., Univ. of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA

fYear

2009

fDate

20-23 Sept. 2009

Firstpage

714

Lastpage

717

Abstract

This paper reports on the design and experimental verification of a new class of ultra-thin-film (250 nm) aluminum nitride (AlN) microelectromechanical system (MEMS) contour-mode resonators (CMRs) suitable for the fabrication of ultra sensitive gravimetric sensors. The device thickness was opportunely scaled in order to increase the mass sensitivity, while keeping a constant frequency of operation. In this first demonstration the resonance frequency of the device was set to 178 MHz and a mass sensitivity as high as 38.96 KHzÂ·Â¿m²/fg was attained. This device demonstrates the unique capability of the CMR technology to decouple resonance frequency from mass sensitivity.

Keywords

aluminium compounds; crystal resonators; gravimeters; micromechanical resonators; piezoelectric thin films; thin film devices; AlN; CMR technology; aluminum nitride MEMS CMR; device resonance frequency; device thickness; frequency 178 MHz; mass sensitivity; microelectromechanical system; sensing applications; ultrasensitive gravimetric sensors; ultrathin film AlN contour mode resonators; Chemical sensors; Fabrication; Film bulk acoustic resonators; Gas detectors; Micromechanical devices; Resonance; Resonant frequency; Sensor arrays; Silicon; Substrates; AlN contour-mode resonators; gravimetric sensors; sensitivity; ultra-thin-film AlN;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Ultrasonics Symposium (IUS), 2009 IEEE International

Conference_Location

Rome

ISSN

1948-5719

Print_ISBN

978-1-4244-4389-5

Electronic_ISBN

1948-5719

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/ULTSYM.2009.5441939

Filename

5441939