Electrostatic and Piezoelectric Testing Methods for RF MEMS Resonators

Two techniques to characterize diamond micromechanical resonator structures are described: (1) electrostatic testing, and (2) piezoelectric actuation with optical detection. It is found that, while the resonant frequency values obtained from the two techniques differ only by 3%, method (2) yield up to eight times larger estimates for the quality factor Q. After describing the techniques and discussing experimental results, an explanation based on the different pressure regimes used on the two testing methods is proposed to explain this apparent discrepancy.