Energy dissipation associated with material damping on vibrating MEMS components

The energy dissipation associated with vibrating MEMS structures is studied in this paper with measurements and modeling. A climatic chamber previously designed and built was used to perform measurements at low static pressures; the tests allowed estimating the contributions of air damping and material damping affecting the system. The measured quality factors are compared with the modeled ones. Approximations of rarefied gas flow in the perforated oscillating structure were used in the modeling.