High-K thin films as dielectric transducers for flexural M/NEMS resonators

We show that a nanometer-thick high-K material can be used as an electromechanical transducer to actuate the flexural mode of micro/nanoresonators. In this study, a 15 nm silicon nitride layer is employed on top of 320 nm thick silicon beams. The devices, smaller by 2 orders of magnitude than in previous studies [1], are successfully driven into vibration at resonance frequencies greater than 1 MHz, nanometer amplitudes, and quality factors greater than 2,000 in vacuum. We also deduce the transduction efficiency from a thermomechanical displacement noise calibration. This work paves the way for efficient electromechanical transduction scheme at the nanoscale, which would be further strengthened by the use of high-K dielectric materials obtained by atomic layer deposition.