Hemispherical micro-resonators from atomic layer deposition

Abstract

Hemispherical shell micro-resonators may be used as gyroscopes to potentially enable precision inertial navigation and guidance at low cost and size. Such devices require a high degree of symmetry and large quality factors (Q). Fabricating the devices from atomic layer deposition (ALD) facilitates symmetry through ALD’s high conformality and low surface roughness. To maximize Q, the shells’ geometry is optimized using finite element method (FEM) studies to reduce thermoelastic dissipation and anchor loss. The shells are fabricated by etching hemispherical molds in Si (1 1 1) substrates with a 2:7:1 volumetric ratio of hydrofluoric:nitric:acetic acids, and conformally coating and patterning the molds with ALD Al2O3. The Al2O3 shells are then released from the surrounding Si substrate with an SF6 plasma. The resulting shells typically have radii around 50 µm and thicknesses close to 50 nm. The shells are highly symmetric, with radial deviations between 0.22 and 0.49%, and robust enough to be driven on resonance at amplitudes 10 × their thickness, sufficient to visualize the resonance mode shapes in an SEM. Resonance frequencies are around 60 kHz, with Q values between 1000 and 2000. This Q is lower than the 106 predicted by FEM, implying that Q is being limited by unmodeled sources of energy loss, most likely from surface effects or material defects.