Evaluation of silicon tuning fork resonators under mechanical loads and space-relevant radiation conditions

Tobias Bandi; Jacek Baborowski; Alex Dommann; Herbert R. Shea; Francis Cardot; Antonia Neels

doi:10.1117/1.JMM.13.4.043019

18 December 2014 Evaluation of silicon tuning fork resonators under mechanical loads and space-relevant radiation conditions

Tobias Bandi, Jacek Baborowski, Alex Dommann, Herbert R. Shea, Francis Cardot, Antonia Neels

Author Affiliations +

Journal of Micro/Nanolithography, MEMS, and MOEMS, Vol. 13, Issue 4, 043019 (December 2014). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JMM.13.4.043019

Abstract

This work reports on mechanical tests and irradiations made on silicon bulk-acoustic wave resonators. The resonators were based on a tuning fork geometry and actuated by a piezoelectric aluminum nitride layer. They had a resonance frequency of 150 kHz and a quality factor of about 20,000 under vacuum. The susceptibility of the devices to radiation-induced degradation was investigated using ⁶⁰Co γ-rays and 50 MeV protons with space-relevant doses of up to 170 krad. The performance of the devices after irradiation indicated a high tolerance to both ionizing damage and displacement damage effects. In addition, the device characteristics were evaluated after mechanical shock and vibration tests and only small effects on the devices were observed. In all experiments, no significant changes of the resonance characteristics were observed within the experimental uncertainty, which was below 100 ppm for the resonance frequency. The results support the efforts toward design and fabrication of highly reliable MEMS devices for space applications.

Citation Download Citation

Tobias Bandi, Jacek Baborowski, Alex Dommann, Herbert R. Shea, Francis Cardot, and Antonia Neels "Evaluation of silicon tuning fork resonators under mechanical loads and space-relevant radiation conditions," Journal of Micro/Nanolithography, MEMS, and MOEMS 13(4), 043019 (18 December 2014). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JMM.13.4.043019

Published: 18 December 2014

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