Thin-film paddle microresonators with high quality factors fabricated at temperatures below 110 /spl deg/C

This paper reports on the fabrication and characterization of thin-film silicon micromachined paddle resonators processed at temperatures below 110 /spl deg/C on glass substrates. The microelectromechanical structures are electrostatically actuated and the resulting movement is monitored using an optical setup. The geometry of the microdevices enables the electrostatic excitation of modes with different shape. This is evidenced by the presence of several resonance peaks in the deflection spectrum of the micromechanical structures, corresponding to the fundamental and harmonic modes of flexural, torsional and circular/disk-like vibrations. Resonance frequencies in the MHz range are detected and quality factors higher than 10/sup 5/ are observed in vacuum.