Dimension-Scaling of Microcantilevers Resonators

In order to analyze the influence of the dimension-scaling on the sensitivity of a cantilever, a set of microcantilevers resonators were designed, fabricated and subsequently scaled. The cantilevers proposed are piezoelectrically actuated and the movement detection is done by four piezoresistors in a Wheatstone bridge configuration. As expected the experimental results show improvement of the resonance frequency and quality factor with the dimension-scaling. For example, an structure with dimensions in the range of 400×300μm2 show the first mode of resonance frequency about 98 kHz and the quality factor around 680 and for this structure scaled with dimensions in the range of 200×150μm2 the resonance frequency and the quality factor was 354 kHz and 950 respectively.