Electrostatic actuation gap reduction method and analysis for square plate resonator on SOI substrates

This paper describes a simple process method for obtaining submicron capacitive electrode gaps for lateral vibrating square plate resonators and the resulting advantages. A novel electrostatic actuation method is proposed to achieve submicron electrode resonator gaps below the fabrication limitation given by conventional optical lithography. The structures are built of single crystal silicon using silicon-on-insulator wafers without complex process steps. The process sequence and simulation results for submicron electrostatic gaps are reported.