Impact of geometry on thermoelastic dissipation in micromechanical resonant beams

Thermoelastic dissipation (TED) is analyzed for complex geometries of micromechanical resonators, demonstrating the impact of resonator design (i.e., slots machined into flexural beams) on TED-limited quality factor. Zener first described TED for simple beams in 1937. This work extends beyond simple...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of microelectromechanical systems 2006-08, Vol.15 (4), p.927-934
Main Authors: Candler, R.N., Duwel, A., Varghese, M., Chandorkar, S.A., Hopcroft, M.A., Woo-Tae Park, Bongsang Kim, Yama, G., Partridge, A., Lutz, M., Kenny, T.W.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Beams (structural)
Capacitive sensors
Damping
Design engineering
Design factors
Design optimization
Dissipation factor
energy dissipation
Exact sciences and technology
Geometry
Instruments, apparatus, components and techniques common to several branches of physics and astronomy
Mechanical instruments, equipment and techniques
microelectromechanical systems (MEMS)
Micromechanical devices
Micromechanical devices and systems
micromechanical resonator
Optical coupling
Physics
Q factor
Quality factor
Resonance
Resonators
Solid modeling
Thermal factors
thermoelastic dissipation
Thermoelasticity
Tuning
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Summary:Thermoelastic dissipation (TED) is analyzed for complex geometries of micromechanical resonators, demonstrating the impact of resonator design (i.e., slots machined into flexural beams) on TED-limited quality factor. Zener first described TED for simple beams in 1937. This work extends beyond simple beams into arbitrary geometries, verifying simulations that completely capture the coupled physics that occur. Novel geometries of slots engineered at specific locations within the flexural resonator beams are utilized. These slots drastically affect the thermal-mechanical coupling and have an impact on the quality factor, providing resonators with quality factors higher than those predicted by simple Zener theory. The ideal location for maximum impact of slots is determined to be in regions of high strain. We have demonstrated the ability to predict and control the quality factor of micromechanical resonators limited by thermoelastic dissipation. This enables tuning of the quality factor by structure design without the need to scale its size, thus allowing for enhanced design optimization
ISSN:1057-7157
1941-0158
DOI:10.1109/JMEMS.2006.879374