Nano-electromechanical oscillators (NEMOs) for RF technologies.

Technical Report · Wed Dec 01 00:00:00 EST 2004

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/920822· OSTI ID:920822

Wendt, Joel Robert; Czaplewski, David A; Gibson, John Murray ^[1]; Webster, James R; Carton, Andrew James; Keeler, Bianca Elizabeth Nelson; Carr, Dustin Wade; Friedmann, Thomas Aquinas; Tallant, David Robert; Boyce, Brad Lee; Sullivan, John Patrick; Dyck, Christopher William; Chen, Xidong ^[2]

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1. Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL
2. Cedarville University, Cedarville, OH

Nano-electromechanical oscillators (NEMOs), capacitively-coupled radio frequency (RF) MEMS switches incorporating dissipative dielectrics, new processing technologies for tetrahedral amorphous carbon (ta-C) films, and scientific understanding of dissipation mechanisms in small mechanical structures were developed in this project. NEMOs are defined as mechanical oscillators with critical dimensions of 50 nm or less and resonance frequencies approaching 1 GHz. Target applications for these devices include simple, inexpensive clocks in electrical circuits, passive RF electrical filters, or platforms for sensor arrays. Ta-C NEMO arrays were used to demonstrate a novel optomechanical structure that shows remarkable sensitivity to small displacements (better than 160 fm/Hz {sup 1/2}) and suitability as an extremely sensitive accelerometer. The RF MEMS capacitively-coupled switches used ta-C as a dissipative dielectric. The devices showed a unipolar switching response to a unipolar stimulus, indicating the absence of significant dielectric charging, which has historically been the major reliability issue with these switches. This technology is promising for the development of reliable, low-power RF switches. An excimer laser annealing process was developed that permits full in-plane stress relaxation in ta-C films in air under ambient conditions, permitting the application of stress-reduced ta-C films in areas where low thermal budget is required, e.g. MEMS integration with pre-existing CMOS electronics. Studies of mechanical dissipation in micro- and nano-scale ta-C mechanical oscillators at room temperature revealed that mechanical losses are limited by dissipation associated with mechanical relaxation in a broad spectrum of defects with activation energies for mechanical relaxation ranging from 0.35 eV to over 0.55 eV. This work has established a foundation for the creation of devices based on nanomechanical structures, and outstanding critical research areas that need to be addressed for the successful application of these technologies have been identified.

• Research Organization: Sandia National Laboratories (SNL), Albuquerque, NM, and Livermore, CA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC04-94AL85000
• OSTI ID: 920822
• Report Number(s): SAND2004-6185; TRN: US200803%%117
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
ANNEALING
CARBON
DEFECTS
DIELECTRIC MATERIALS
DIMENSIONS
EXCIMER LASERS
MECHANICAL STRUCTURES
OSCILLATORS
RELAXATION
RELIABILITY
RESONANCE
SENSITIVITY
STRESS RELAXATION
SWITCHES
TARGETS
Electromechanical devices.
Nanotechnology.
Radio frequency oscillators-Design and construction.
Oscillators-Design and construction.