Electrothermal actuation of silicon carbide ring resonators

Abstract

Silicon carbide (SiC) ring resonators have been designed, simulated, and fabricated in order to achieve higher resonant frequency compared to beam resonators. The resonant frequency as a function of the ring radius and central hole radius, as well as the influence of the electrode design on the actuation efficiency have been investigated. Aluminum (Al) electrodes have been fabricated on top of the structures in order to study the electrothermal actuation of the structures. The bimorph Al/SiC ring resonators have been constructed by etching the SiC in inductively coupled plasma. The release of the Si sacrificial layer has been performed with a XeF2 chemical etching. The radial release and area release have been characterized as a function of the central hole dimension at chamber pressure of 1 and 2 Torr, whereby the release rates have been found to increase as the hole dimensions and the etching pressure increases. In addition, the release process has shown to be governed by aperture effects. The rings fabricated with different dimensions have been actuated mechanically and electrothermally, and the resonant frequency detected optically. The resonant frequency has been shown to increase as the ring radius decreases and the hole radius increases, both theoretically and experimentally.