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Ü. Sökmen, A. Waag, A. Ababneh, H. Seidel, U. Schmid, E. Peiner:
"AlN Sputter-Deposited Silicon Cantilever Resonators for Mass Sensing Fabricated Using ICP-DRIE";
Talk: 2. GMMWorkshop - Mikro-Nano-Integration, Erfurt, D; 03-03-2010 - 03-04-2010; in: "Abstracts", VDE Verlag, (2010), ISBN: 978-3-8007-3216-6; 45 - 48.

We report on the fabrication and evaluation of micromachined resonators for mass sensing applications. These resonators
are based on a silicon cantilever excited with a sputter-deposited aluminium nitride (AlN) thin film actuator. These
devices can be used most beneficially for the detection of nano-sized particles in air as they are regarded as growing
threat on the human health. Although the size of the nanoparticles can be determined, it is not easy to measure their
weights. Nowadays it is possible to fabricate microbalances by using micromachining techniques in order to weigh very
low masses. This machining can easily be done by using the ICP-DRIE cryogenic dry etching process. A resonator consisting
of a silicon cantilever can be used as a very sensitive balance. The actuation of these cantilevers can be done by
using a piezoelectric layer, e.g. AlN thin film, sandwiched between two electrodes. The fabricated resonator revealed a
resonance frequency of 1.67931 kHz and a quality factor of 155. A resonance frequency shift was observed by loading
mass, i.e. evaporated aluminium on the cantilever, of 200 ng.