Energetic ion radiation effects on a silicon carbide (SiC) multimode resonating diaphragm

We report on measuring radiation effects of energetic oxygen ions on silicon carbide (SiC) diaphragm resonators. Micromachined SiC diaphragms (1 mm × 1 mm × 2μm) vibrating at ~200-800 kHz on multimode resonances are exposed to 14.3 MeV oxygen ions to sensitively probe the radiation effects of high-energy ions. We have observed frequency redshifts as large as ~2.6%, as well as quality (Q) factor degradation in the multimode resonances of the SiC diaphragm. Non-ionizing energy loss (NIEL) damages appear to play a dominant role for such changes, with an equivalent NIEL dose of ~7.3×10
¹⁰
/cm
²
, a value simulated from the stopping and range of ions in matter (SRIM).